Wild Guardian
by Guy Jin
Summary: A Ranma/Wild Arms fusion. Small update to chapter 2.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Ranma or Wild Arms. But now I know what to ask Santa for next year.  
  
  
Today's theme is: Zankoku no Tenshi no Teize - by Megumi Hayashibara; the opening theme to Neon Genesis Evangelion  
  
  
C&C, hatemail, and proclamations of love to:  
guy_jin@jusenkyo.com  
  
  
  
By: Guy Jin  
Wild Guardian  
  
Alone  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
"I'm afraid not husband, five years old is just too young to embark on a journey of training. Ranma could get hurt!"  
  
"Please Nodoka! He'll never be a great martial artist if he isn't put through the hardships of the road," blubbered Genma pathetically. He was currently sitting at the table in the family room with his wife across from him, their son sitting in her lap playing with a piece of paper and some finger paint.  
  
"I said no, Genma! He will be a great man one day but not if he is dead, which is what may very well happen should he go with you on this trip," she said adamantly.  
  
Genma got an evil glint in his eye. "Are you saying I'm not man enough to protect my own son?" His tone was slow and measured, like he was barely restraining anger. But inside he was thinking more along the lines of, "Hehe, this'll get ya."  
  
Nodoka reeled back in shock. "I would never! But what I am saying is how am I to be sure that the risk is worth it? If you were, God forbid, to fail in making a great man of our son, then you would have put his life in danger for naught!"  
  
The pudgy martial artist slouched forward in thought. "How am I going to get the wife to let me take the boy? He'll never be a great fighter the way she's always babying him. If he's not a good fighter then he'll never be worthy of uniting the schools, and if he can't marry a Tendo then I can kiss early retirement goodbye!"  
  
He looked over to where his son was playing. Ranma was busying himself with his little paints, periodically showing his mother something he drew. Suddenly Genma was struck with divine inspiration.  
  
He quickly grabbed a sheet of paper from little Ranma's pile and began a little finger painting project of his own. His wife looked at him strangely, wondering just what her husband was doing now. After some scribbling he held the paper at arms length and smiled.  
  
"This woman, is how you know the risk is worth it!" he crowed.  
  
Nodoka cocked her head to the side questioningly. "Are you feeling all right dear? Do you want me to call a doctor."  
  
"I've never felt better my dear," he replied with a grin. "Read this."  
  
She took the proffered parchment and gasped at what was written.  
  
"I, Genma Saotome, do hearby swear an oath to make my son, Ranma Saotome, a man amongst men, Should I fail, both myself and my son will bow our heads before our ancestors, and atone for bringing shame to the family name by commiting sepukku." Nodoka's voice trailed off as she read the last part.  
  
She looked up at her husband with a newfound respect. Did he really feel this strongly about making their son a man amongst men?  
  
"Very well," she replied with a smile before handing the paper back to have him sign it. Genma quickly did so, and then took his son's hand and pressed it down firmly, the paint on the boy's hand causing a print which would have to pass on a signature since he couldn't write.  
  
"It's settled then," said the Saotome matriarch. "When do we leave?"  
  
Genma's eyes popped out of his head as he dropped to the floor like a rock. "W-w-w-what do you mean... we?"  
  
She smiled happily as she got up to go pack. "I mean what I said. I trust you husband, but I also do not cherish the thought of you and my son having to kill yourselves. I will go and make sure you do not fail."  
  
Genma lay there twitching a few times, his son poking him with a stick he pulled off a nearby potted plant.  
  
"What the hell have I done!?!"  
  
  
+++++++++++++++  
  
  
The night air chilled young Ranma as he crept along under the moonless sky. He ducked behind trash bins and concealed himself within the shadows. He dared a peek over a wooden crate at his mark.  
  
His father walked along the dimly lit street, hunched forward with his hands in his jacket pockets.  
  
Ranma had been following his father for the past fifteen minutes and was seriously considering just walking back to the dojo. Genma seddenly stopped and looked around, causing Ranma to duck back into his hiding place. After looking around Genma walked over to the building next to him and entered through a large steel door.  
  
Ranma quickly jumped out from behind his hiding place and ducked into the alley next to the building his father had just entered. Near the end of the alley was a power meter that jutted from the ground, right beneath an open window.  
  
The boy went to the meter and used it as a step to reach the window. He shimmied through the tiny entrance and dropped into a dark room, which was used for storage judging from the dusty boxes that were piled along the walls.  
  
At the other edge of the room was a door to another room. On the other side of the door Ranma could hear the sounds of music, and the occasional clinking of glass.  
  
He cracked the door open barely and inch and peeked out.  
  
He was in a bar. There were few occupants and the placed smelled really bad. Ranma had never been in a bar before but he was was pretty sure that this one was below standards in the sanitary department.  
  
Almost immediately Ranma spied his father, the man was sitting on a stool only a few feet at the bar nursing a tall mug of beer. Ranma had decided that following his dad had been a waste of time, and was about to head back when the bartender decided to walk over to Genma and strike up a conversation.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
"Hey buddy. You've been coming here every day for the past month, and I don't even know your name."  
  
Genma looked up from his drink and eyed the man. "I'm Genma. Genma Saotome."  
  
"Nice to meet you Genma. My name's Kenshiro. You can call me Ken," the short man replied with a smile. He then went about wiping at some glasses with a small towel.  
  
"So what's on your mind? You come in here, sit down, order one beer and nurse it for the whole night. Let me guess. Woman troubles?"  
  
Genma scoffed a bit in reply. "You can say that."  
  
Ken stopped what he was doing and leaned against the bar. "Wanna talk about it?"  
  
"Don't tell me you want to listen?" asked Genma with a bit of curiosity.  
  
"Actually I do," said the man with a shrug. "I like listening to other people's stories, maybe help them out a bit with what's bothering them. That's why I became a bartender. I'd thought about being a psychiatrist, but then I decided I'd rather join a proffesion where I could help with their problems."  
  
Genma couldn't help but smirk at the man. "If you really want to know, it's my wife and my son. I'm training my boy to be the heir to my school of martial arts. Basically we're travelling around so he can learn from a lot of different types of people."   
  
"Sounds like fun," commented Ken. "A real father/son bonding experience."  
  
"Yeah it would be. But the wife came along."  
  
"Ouch."  
  
"Tell me about it," said Genma as he rubbed at his temples. "I finally get her to agree to let me take the boy, and what happens? She says she wants to come along to make sure our son becomes a 'man amongst men'. We've been traveling for almost two full years now, and the boy hasn't done any real serious training yet."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"The wife won't let me. Every time I try and have him do an exercise that will better him as a martial artist, she steps in and stops us. Giving me that 'seven years old is too young for that type of thing' stuff."  
  
Ken's eyes went wide. "The kid is only seven?"  
  
"That doesn't mean anything. The kid's got it in him to be great, if not the best, but with his mom around... I hate to say it but at this rate we'll fail. I love my wife but what she knows about martial arts could probably fill a shot glass. All I want is for my boy to be strong, and take over my school," said Genma with a sigh.  
  
"And maybe get the chance to sit back while the boy's wife pumps out the grandkids, and Ranma packs 'em into the dojo," he added in his head.  
  
"Well you got lots of time. I mean he is only seven after all," Ken said with a sagely nod.  
  
Genma only shook his head in reply. "No, you don't understand. Imagine a kid being trained in the most rigorous ways available, being groomed to be powerful from an early age."  
  
"That kind of head start would put that child far ahead of everyone in his generation," commented the bartender, finally understanding where Genma was going with this.  
  
"Exactly," said Genma. "That's the kind of jump I wanted my boy to have. But the wife just doesn't seem to understand that. I would be okay if I could get her to go home, but she'll never leave the boy."  
  
"Well if you ask me it sou- did you hear that?" asked Ken.  
  
Genma perked up his sensitive ears and looked towards a door off to his right. "In there," he said pointing towards where he deemed was the source of the noise.  
  
Ken jumped over the bar and the two walked to the door. Inside the small storage room a few boxes could be seen scattered across the floor. They both looked towards the open window above the mess.  
  
"Cat," offered Kenshiro, Genma nodding in agreement.  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
"I'll show them," muttered Ranma as he readjusted the straps on his pack. "I'll get strong on my own. Then pop and mom will be proud of me!"  
  
The young boy looked overhead and checked his heading by the rising sun just as his father had taught him. Though he'd only been training for two years, but it was two years spent on the road. He'd learned a thing or two about travelling and camping, and those lessons would serve him well on this new journey.  
  
After he'd heard his father's words and opinion of his progress, Ranma had decided that his father probably knew best. If his father said that he'd be better off away from his mother, then it was probably true.  
  
He'd miss them. Miss them a bunch. But it was his duty to become strong enough to inherit his family style. To do his parents proud and become the kind of man they wanted him to be.  
  
That night, he swore that he'd become all that they wanted, and more. As soon as he retuned to the the dojo they'd been visiting, Ranma had written a note describing what he was doing, and telling his parents that they needn't worry. Although his grasp of the written word was... childish, despite his mother's strict tutoring, he was certain that he'd communicated his feelings well enough.  
  
And so here he was, a boy on a journey to return home a man. It had been somewhere around three hours till sunrise when he'd finished packing his essential items, and he surmised that it was well past eight judging by the sun's position. He opened wide with a loud yawn but continued onward, it was still far to early for him to go back to sleep.  
  
The place they had been staying was near the outskirts of the city, and he arrived in the forests within minutes. He continued on for a few more hours before leaving the thickly wooded area, and fiding himself walking along a rocky trail.  
  
The narrow path stretched off for quite a distance and was covered in many rocks of varying sizes, despite the lack of any vegitation one might think this was an unused path. The trail followed along a tall mountain that Ranma had seen occasionally through the openings in the treetops as he ventured through the forest.  
  
The mountain was pretty high, and had s slope that was a little too steep to climb without some experience. ALhtough Ranma had a bit of experience mountain climbing, he didn't really feel up to the task.  
  
Not that he couldn't do it, he just needed to get to his destination quickly and the road seemed the best path to take.  
  
When Ranma had been thinking of where he should go he remembered a temple that his fathr told him about. He'd been told it wasn't very far, and that the monks that lived there had brought a rare form of kung fu when they migrated from mainland China.  
  
Wihtout warning the young boy's feet snagged on something and he pitched forward with a cry. His training helped him break his fall but the many stones that littered the path, smashed into his back as he rolled forward to disperse his momentum.  
  
He stopped only two feet from where he'd tripped and rubbed at his sore back with a curse. He looked over his shoulder and saw a large rock that lay on the ground, a large hole in the dirt showed where he'd uprooted that rock when he'd hit it.  
  
Ranma got up and dusted off his clothes before strolling over to where the stone lay.  
  
"Stupid thing," he muttered. He reared his arm back and chucked the offending object at the mountain side.  
  
The boy gave a contented grunt and head off along his original course. He only got a few feet when his ears were filled with a deep rumling sound that filled the air. Quickly turning toward the mountain he came face to face with a landslide that barreled relentlesly towards him.  
  
"Uh oh..." he whispered, thinking that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to throw that rock.  
  
"Ranma!" came a shout as he was lifted into the air by a powerful set of arms.  
  
  
++++++++++++  
  
  
In the forest not far behind Ranma.  
  
"I don't know how husband, but this must be your fault," growled Nodoka as she made her way through the wooded thickets. Beside her Genma could only snort in disdain for his wife's foolishness.  
  
"If it is anyone's fault it's your's woman!" he snapped.  
  
The woman halted her walking and turned on her husband with a sneer on her lips. "And what gives you that idea, husband?" said the woman, more than a bit of malice in her voice.  
  
"You read the letter. He didn't think he was challenged enough and wanted to journey on his own. If you'd let me train him as a proper martial artist..." he let the last part hang so she could fnish the sentence herself.  
  
The woman narrowed her eyes manacingly. "What exactly are you insinuating husband?" she asked, the chill in her voice becoming even colder.  
  
"I'm not insinutaing anything dear wife," replied the bald man cooly. "I'm out right saying that this is your fault."  
  
That drove the already distraught woman right over the edge.  
  
"How dare you!?!?" screamed Nodoka, reaching for the Saotome family sword she'd been given by her mother-in-law. Genma eyed his wife calmly while she drew her blade, ready to defend himself should she lose her self control.  
  
Before the squabble could turn physical, a loud yelp was heard just past a line of trees not a dozen feet away. Their actions ceast as they ran full tilt towards the sound.  
  
After a short run they could see their son, not twenty feet away, picking up a rock and tossing towrds the mountain that the trail ran along side. They watched in horror as the rock struck a small boulder high above the boy's position, which set off a chain reaction causing a quickly growing landslide. Without thinking about their own safety, both parents sped off to save their son.  
  
"Ranma!" screamed Nodoka with a panicked shrill in her voice.  
  
Genma being a trained fighter grabbed his son in scant seconds of his realising the situation. Once they were clear the man looked back to find his wife coming towards them. She'd tried to get to Ranma the same as Genma had, but was much slower than her husband and was caught right in the path of the oncoming rocks.  
  
He let loose a loud curse as he threw his son into the bushes and rushed to save his wife.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
Ranma could only watched in a stunned silence, as his father scooped his mother into his arms and leapt away from the falling stones. The man crouched low and sprung away, only to have one of the stones smash into his laegs, causing the man to flail in the air for a moment.  
  
The hit had cuased Genma to lose the strength in his leap and landed only a few feet away, but was able to control his fall and land lightly on his feet. The martial artist immediately tensed and tried to jump away in time, his movements fast, but not fast enough.  
  
Ranma could only sit in the bushes, mortified, as his mother and father were swallowed in a storm of dust and stone. As one they'd screamed, and their dual cries would echo in his mind for the coming hours as he wept.  
  
"Ranma!"  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Kasumi strolled along the walk way that surrounded the pond of the park near her home. In her hands she carried a brown paper bag with a lunch and her favorite book. Summer vacation had just started, so she was finally able to find an hour or two to herself every now and again.  
  
Ever since her mother's passing, Kasumi saw it as her duty as the eldest daughter to care for her family. And it was a responsibility she did not take lightly.  
  
Every day after Nerima Elementary let out for the day, she'd rush home, finish her homework, and perform her duties as a homemaker.  
  
Cooking, cleaning, laundry, she did it all for her family, and with a smile on her face. But despite the smile, deep inside the girl held little joy other than seeing her family healthy and happy.  
  
At nine years old Kasumi had become the head of a household, a burden that left one little time for the activities that children her age found enjoyable. Going to movies, hanging out with friends, joining school clubs and sports teams. Even the martial arts that she so loved were put aside for the sake of a responsibility self imposed.  
  
Two years. It had been two years since that cold autumn day when her mother's heart stopped beating. And the wounds still ran deep.  
  
They thanked the kami every day for the sizeable amount Kimiko had inherited from an estranged relative, it had paid for much of the woman's stay in the hospital, and was what they lived on now that their father no longer taught.  
  
Understandably her father had taken the death badly, spending long hours doing nothing but staring at old photo albums and crying. He was slowly drawing himself out for the sake of his children, but would most likely never be the same man he was.  
  
As for her younger sisters.  
  
Nabiki was two years younger than her, yet the girl's eyes burned with a keen intelect. Nabiki had seemed to shut herself off from the world around her, showing only the most minimal of emotion to anyone but her own family.  
  
Akane had taken to her training with a renewed vigor. Only a child of eight, yet her life was the art. But without her father to guide her, she was forced to develop on her own. Kasumi would watch as her younger sister would try and recreate techniques her father had shown her long ago, but with no one to keep her focused Akane would lash out and allow her frustrations to lead her fists.  
  
Kasumi often wished she could help her sisters and their father, but other duties always got in the way.  
  
Kasumi wandered around a bit more, enjoying her day off when she saw a large sakura tree on a hill that over looked most of the park. Suprisingly, the peaceful spot was vacant and she quickly marched up the hill to stake her claim.  
  
A small tearing sound caught the girl's hearing as she neared her chosen reading spot. She looked down in her hand just in time to see the bottom of the paper bag with her lunch tear, causing her red apple to fall out and roll down the hill.  
  
"Oh no..." she muttered as her apple quickly sped down the grassy noll. Suddenly the apple disappeared with a swooshing sound and a grey streak. Kasumi blinked a few times and calmly walked off to the bushes she'd seen the grey blurr vanish into.  
  
What she found was totally unexpected. A young boy, maybe only a few years younger than herself, was crouched down eating the apple voraciously. She tell by the odor wafting from the boy that his dogi had not always been grey, and the numerous tatters it sported spoke of the boy being quite active.  
  
She continued walking forward until he seemed to stiffen when she approached too close. He jumped to his feet and spun on his heels to face the intruder. Seeing the girl he'd stolen the apple from he grunted and spit out a seed.  
  
"Yer too late. I already ate yer apple so beat it," said the boy with a sneer, he quickly calmed however when he saw the slightly hurt look on the girl's pretty face.  
  
"That's alright. My name's Kasumi, what's your name?"  
  
The filthy child stood there for a moment, debating whether or not to answer. "Ranma," he replied cooly.  
  
"That's a nice name. Tell me, where are your parents?" she asked, intending the give the boy's parents a stern talking too about letting their child get so filthy.  
  
Ranma narrowed his eyes. "Don't got no parents."  
  
Kasumi went wide eyed at his remark. "Really!?! I'm so sorry."  
  
"You ain't got anything to apologize for. S'not like you killed 'em."  
  
Kasumi ignored his coarse manners and continued. "Well judging from how you ate that apple you must be quite hungry."  
  
"So what if I am?"  
  
"Well if you want I still have this lunch, and I'm not all that hungry." she said with a frustrated frown. Boys could be so difficult!  
  
"What's in it fer you?" he asked suspicious of the young girl's intentions.  
  
"I was going to spend the afternoon reading. But if I had someone to talk to, that would make it an even better day."  
  
Ranma eyed her another minute before giving a little smile. "You got yerself a deal!" He calmy walked over to her to accept the bag and have himself something to eat. Just as he reached out his hand he saw Kasumi's nose wrinkle as her eyes began to water.  
  
"Oh sorry 'bout that. Not gunna be a very pleasant conversation with me stinkin' the way I do." With that he dashed out of the bushes and ran to the lake shore. Kasumi watched in amazement as he simply jumped in, removed his top and swam around in a couple of circles.  
  
After a moment he walked out and rung his blouse dry. "That's better," he commented to himself as he went over to his companion for the day and took the lunch from her.  
  
"Your an odd boy," she said with a giggle.  
  
Ranma looked up from the bag with a peanut butter sandwich half hanging from his mouth. He swallowed the sandwich whole before asking, "Why do you say that?"  
  
"No reason," she replied with a dismissive wave. Suddenly she realized just how muscular he was now that he had his gi top thrown over one shoulder, much more so than the average boy. Also she began remembering how quickly and easily he moved.  
  
"Ranma? Do you know martial arts?"  
  
"Sure do!" he exclaimed, glad she decided to start their conversation off with subject he was familiar too.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
Kasumi hummed to herself happily as she hung the laundry out to dry. The past two weeks had been some of the best she'd had in a long time.  
  
Every day after finishing the bulk of her chores she'd tell her family that she was going to spend some time at a friend's, not really a lie since she for all she knew, Ranma lived in that park. Then they'd spend the afternoon doing nothing in particular. They'd skip stones, talk about her day, or just do something as mundane as playing tag or hide and go seek.  
  
She smiled to herself as she thought back to the end of that first day they'd spent together. As the evening aproached Ranma had stood and told her. "Well I held up my end of the bargain. Thanks fer the grub, maybe I'll see ya around again, someday." And that said he'd just walked away.  
  
The next day however Kasumi had decided on a whim to go back to the sakura tree in the park. Astonishingly Ranma was already there, waiting. "Hey fancy meetin' you here," he'd said with a grin. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have another sandwich on you, would ya?"  
  
After that she took a bag lunch with her every time she went to see him. Although he was a secretive at first about his past, over the weeks he opened up to her a little more every day.  
  
Only the previous day Ranma had decided to tell her why he was an orphan. Although his tale brought a tear to her eye, she was also very happy that he finally trusted her enough to tell her the story.  
  
She'd known from that first day that he was a martial artist, but it wasn't until hearing of the past year of his life did she learn of his quest to visit different dojos to study.  
  
That was the reason she was so happy today. As they were parting for the day Kasumi had told him to meet her in the usual place and to be ready because she was going to give him a suprise. Today when they meet, she'll blindfold Ranma and lead hiim back to the dojo so he could learn her family style. Won't he be so excited!  
  
She quickly hung the last of the garments and climbed down from the step ladder she used to reach the high clothesline. Kasumi then returned to the house and grabbed the things she'd need, a kerchief and the usual lunch. But just as she was stepping out the door her father's voice stopped her.  
  
"Kasumi? Where are you going?"  
  
She turned to look at the man and gave a cheery smile. "I'm just going to see my friend, father."  
  
Soun gave his oldest a studious look before responding. "Kasumi, do you have something you want to tell me?"  
  
"No father, nothing at all I want to tell you," she replied with the same cheery smile.  
  
"This 'friend' of yours wouldn't happen to be a 'boy' friend, would he?" questioned Soun as he crossed his arms.  
  
The girl gave a thoughtful frown. "Well he is a boy, and he is my friend. But thats not how it is, daddy."  
  
"I think you'd better tell me how it is then," he said with a heavy, tired sounding sigh.  
  
Kasumi slumped her shoulders and walked back into the house to tell her father what had happened. He would have found out later in the evening when she brought Ranma home anyway. When she finished with her story she patiently waited for her father to speak.  
  
Soun silently sat there, mulling over what his daughter had told him. "I'm disappointed in you Kasumi. You should have told me what was going on sooner. That boy has to be cared for by the proper authorities."  
  
The girl let out a startled gasp. "You can't! you don't know him like I do, he'll only run away if you-"  
  
"ENOUGH! I'll not have my daughter running around with some... some rorouni! He could have been dangerous! You'll go up to your room while I take care of this matter." Soun's stern tone was very much out of character, especially when talking to Kasumi.  
  
"But daddy!" protested the girl.  
  
"I said enough!"  
  
Kasumi sat there looking at her father for a few moments before she burst into tears and ran up to her room. She barely even noticed her sisters as she passed them in the hall where they'd been eavesdropping on the conversation.  
  
Soun sat at the table for a few minutes more before going over to the phone, and alerting the authorities of where the boy named Ranma would be. After the call was made he sat back down and cried to himself softly, rather than his usual gushing sobs.  
  
He hated himself for talking to his eldest the way he just did, but part of being a father was making sure his children where safe, for all he knew the boy was dangerous. Besides, the child would be placed into government care and given the help he needs.  
  
It was best for everyone.  
  
  
+++++++++++++++  
  
  
In the park Ranma sat beneath the sakura tree that had become the usual meeting grounds for he and Kasumi. It was growing later into the evening and he twiddled his thumbs silently as hae waited.  
  
Kasumi was running a little later than she usually did, but that didn't bother Ranma. If she said to wait, he'd wait. At first he hadn't known what to make of the girl, but after a while she began growing on him. For almost a full year now he'd been alone, travelling here and there, learning from different wandering fighters. It was nice to stay in one place for more than a little while, and to have a friend.  
  
While he waited he busied himself a twig he was using to draw pictures in the dirt. All the while he was careful of the new dogi he was wearing. Although he had no money, Ranma had quickly learned another benifit of the kind of training he did. It made him a very good theif.  
  
All he had to do was find a place that sold the things he wanted, wait until the shopkeeper's eyes were turned, then strike. That's how he'd gotten these new clothes. He'd even stolen some soap so he'd be clean when Kasumi came with her suprise. Even though he didn't care much for hygiene, she seemed to like it when he showed up clean.  
  
"Is your name Ranma?"  
  
The voice caused Ranma to look up startled. He cursed under his breath for letting himself be caught off gaurd when he noticed the voice belonged to a police officer.  
  
"And if I am?" he asked icily.  
  
"We got a call that you'd be here. You'll have to come with me," said the officer as he reached down to pull Ranma to his feet.  
  
The boy responded by kicking the man's wrist as he rolled away. "What'ya want with me? Last time I checked it was pretty legal ta sit in the park," he said with cold tone in his voice.  
  
"I'm here to take you downtown to social services. But I should book you for assaulting an officer," he barked as he rubbed at his sore wrist. He hadn't expected the kid to be so damn strong!  
  
"Yeah right! You'll have to catch me first!" Ranma yelled. He dug his foot into the loose soil around the base of the tree and kicked out, flinging the dirt into the cop's eyes.  
  
The man stood there for a while rubbing at his face trying to get rid of the stinging sensation. By the time he was able to see again the boy was long gone.  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Alone again, Ranma sat in the car of a train with the heavy iron door open so he could watch the stars roll by overhead.  
  
As soon as he blinded the cop he'd ran directly for the nearest train yard, figuring it the best and quickest way out of the city. Although he didn't want to believe it, he knew who had sent that officer there to take him away.  
  
He lay there on a bed of torn up cardboard boxes, silent and shivering. The night seemed just a bit colder when he thought about how the only person he'd trusted in almost a year had betrayed him.  
  
The steady, rythmic beating of the train chugging along the tracks soon had him falling into a dazed half sleep.  
  
He sniffled and looked back up to the stars as his eyes slowly drooped.  
  
"I wish I had a real friend. I don't wanna be alone anymore," he wished, even thought he knew no one would hear.  
  
But someone did hear, and the shadows next to the young boy pulled away to reveal a large furry animal. Ranma looked up with his half opened eyes and caught sight of the giant wolf that loomed over him.  
  
It had a coat of dark violet and crimson, with a bushy mane extending from the back of it's head like long hair. Two long horns extended from each side of it's face giving the appearance of four enormous fangs, and the claws on it's feet were the size of kitchen knives.  
  
Despite the wolf's monsterous appearance, Ranma was unafraid. He could feel a warm, friendly sensation coming from the beast as it neared him.  
  
"Hello," it greeted him in a deep, soothing voice. "My name is Lucied, I will be your... friend." Lucied then walked over to Ranma and lay down next to him.  
  
Ranma looked to the creature for a moment before scooting over and nuzzling against the wolf's warm fur. "My name's Ranma," he said before finally giving in to sleep.  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Notes:  
  
This was hard to write. Inspirado did not strike until late in the chap, but now that this (I guess you could call it the prolouge despite it's length) is out of the way I know what I want to do in this story. So the next chap should be a bit smoother.  
  
To those of you wanting to know know what Lucied looks like in better detail, just try a search for pics of him. My Lucied is the one from 2nd Ignition, but with the colorings darker.  
  
Also, before I get mails about this, Ranma treats Kasumi like his first friend because she was. Ukyo never met Ranma in this fic. She'll be in it, but this way is better for the story line I have planned for her. Trust me.  
  
I really want C&C for this. I'll keep doing it no matter what, but I'd still like to hear opinions.  
  
  
Next time: Ranma's journey of training is coming to an end, and he must face one last challenge before he fufills a promise he'd made himself the day his parents died. But what awaits him after?  
  
  
Tszietzen  
  
-Guy Jin 


	2. Trust

Disclaimer: In an attempt to own Ranma ½ I built a time machine to take me to the past. There I would become the historical creator of Ranma. But I dropped my notebook and some japanese art student picked it up and ran off. I won't even tell you what happened with Wild Arms. I don't own them, let's leave it at that.  
  
  
Special note: Apologies to Personal Dreamer and anyone who tried to visit Anime Insomniac. I wrote the address wrong in the last Savior's Blood. Check the bottom for the corrected address.  
  
  
Revision note: Added paragraphs to meeting scene, as well as other small additions and changes to others. Additional scene added.  
  
  
Today's theme is: Don't be Discouraged - By Megumi Hayashibara: Slayers Theme. Megumi Hayashibara is such a great artist.  
  
  
C&C, hatemail, and little talking moon cats to:  
guy_jin@hotmail.com  
  
  
By: Guy Jin  
Wild Guardian  
  
Trust  
  
  
+++++++++++  
  
  
Warmth spread across his skin as the bright shine of the afternoon sun battled the chill of a sudden wind. He stood atop a hill overlooking the expanse of the bustling metropolis known as Tokyo.  
  
"Where is this place?" his companion queried as he stepped forward to take in the view.  
  
"There," the man replied as he pointed towards an area of the city with a number of residences.  
  
"This is what you've trained for."  
  
"I know," the man said with a nod. He looked down and gave the animal a pat on the shoulder.  
  
"What are you going to do after?"  
  
He shrugged. "Whatever I feel like."  
  
"One step at a time, eh?"  
  
"You know it." They then began the hike down the winding path that lead to the outskirts of the city. The man turned to his friend and gave a tired sigh. "You have to change ya know."  
  
The animal growled annoyedly but did as he was asked. Not because he took orders, but because his friend was right. "Happy?"  
  
"Very. Now let's go."  
  
  
++++++++++++  
  
  
Soun Tendo's quiet sunday was interrupted by a loud voice.  
  
"I challenge the master of this school!" came the a deep booming cry.  
  
The man rose from his seat at the family table and stood tall before heading into the yard. He was soon joined by his two youngest daughters, who had run down the stair when the challenge had been announced. Akane, his youngest, was adjusting her yellow gi as she stepped up to her father's side. Soun supressed his smile at seeing his daughter so eager to defend her school.  
  
In the yard the three came face to face with the man who challenged their dojo. Where they'd expected a huge brute of a man, stood a tall teenager with a slim but defined figure, a large brown travelling pack was strapped to his back.  
  
He wore loose black pants, with a sleeveless crimson shirt and a long violet sash tied around his waist. Despite the boy's rougish appearance, the thing that really caught their eyes was the dog that was by his side.  
  
It was easily the largest dog the three had seen in a long time. And the fact that German Sheperds were not very common in their area, made it an even more impressive animal.  
  
"You are the master of this school?" the boy asked with a casual flick of his ponytail and condescending snort.  
  
"Yes, I am Soun Tendo. Master of the Tendo school of Anything Goes Martial Arts." he answered with a nod.  
  
The youth then gave a cold grin. "I've come a long way to fight you. When I heard of your school in my travels, I knew that this would be the final conquest in my journey."  
  
"Don't be so cocky!" screamed the youngest of the Tendos.  
  
"Indeed!" seconded Soun. "Just who do you think you are!?!"  
  
"I'll tell you after the fight if I feel like it. For now, I'm just a passing rurouni."  
  
"Why you!!!"  
  
"Akane!" Soun's bark calmed his daughter, but only enough to keep her from jumping at the boy right there and then.  
  
"Your words are meaningless. If you believe our school weak, then prove it in the fight!" Nabiki's outburst caught her family by suprise. Although she may not practice the family style anymore, she still had her pride as a member of a family of great martial artists, and no one would make light of her school!  
  
The ponytailed boy sneered angrily at the girl. "Are you the one I'll have to fight? Then shut up and keep out of grown up business, little girl."  
  
"Who are you calling little girl, little boy?" she asked coldly.  
  
"I've had enough," he said, beginning to become bored with the conversation. "Let's get this match over with."  
  
Further arguments where postponed as the four humans and the animal made their way into the dojo proper. The challenger moved to the center of the structure and looked around. "Not the worst place I've busted up. Pretty clean for a dojo. Almost like no one ever uses it."  
  
He heard a few menacing growls behind him and turned. "So who's representing your side?" he asked, not really caring about the glares directed his way.  
  
Akane moved to answer but her path was barred by her father's arm.  
  
"I will," said Soun with an iron tone of confidence in his voice. He would show this whelp the true power of his school, and then he would make the child beg forgiveness for disrespecting his family.  
  
"Do it daddy."  
  
"Show him what Anything Goes is all about!"  
  
Soun stalked forward and moved opposite the challenger. At the same time the dog that seemed to be at the boy's side at all times, calmly padded over next to the other two observers and sat on it's hauches to watch. In the animal's jaw it carried the large pack the boy had brought. It was quite a sight considering the object was easily the size of the animal's torso.  
  
Nabiki cast the animal a short glance and walked a few steps forward. If she didn't know any better she'd have thought that dog was looking bored.  
  
"The rules are as followed: full contact, no holds barred, win by submission and knock out only. Understood?" Both men nodded. She raised her arm and took a deep breath. "BEGIN!"  
  
Soun quickly dropped into a stance and tried to survey his opponent's style and skill by his stance. The boy however had other ideas and stood calmly, his hands in his pockets and that same condescending sneer on his face.  
  
The older man growled in frustration at the boy's total disregard for his betters. Soun took a deep breath and steadied himself for the attack. The ponytailed fighter only raised his eyebrows as the man was trying to center himself in the middle of a fight.  
  
"Pathetic," the boy taunted. "Your form is sloppy, and your stance is weak. You are obviously out of practice."  
  
Soun's anger only grew at the taunting. He assesed himself and grudgingly admitted that the boy might be right, but even out of practice he was good enough to take down some wannabe punk upstart.  
  
The dojo master gave a battle cry and began his offensive. His fist and feet blurred as he struck out repeatedly with speed and precision that marked him as the master he was. His two daughters at the sidelines watched in fascination as he cut loose with skill they'd never imagined he'd had.  
  
Their pride was short lived however. The brash challenger bent and swayed in time to the older man's onslaught, dodging every strike with apparently the most minimal of effort. Every attack the master fronted, every punch or kick thrown, simply struck air. It was somewhat akin to fighting smoke with your bare hands in hopes of making a solid hit.  
  
Slowly but surely Soun's skills were becoming sharpened from the fight, as his body became accustomed to fighting again. With his abilities steadily returning, Soun turned up the heat. The attack took on a more frantic pace, and the moustached master found himself no longer able to follow the battle with just his eyes. To compensate he reached out with his other senses to feel the presence of his quarry.  
  
The challenger lifted an eyebrow as his opponent's eyes stopped darting around and became fixed more often, sometimes even closing altogether.  
  
Soun felt a slight opening in the rurouni's defense and struck quickly. The hard jab was dodged just all the other attacks were though, and Soun's wrist was gripped as it flew over the young man's ducked head. Before he'd known what'd happened, Soun found himself in a throw so basic that it was an insult to even attempt it on a fighter with his experience.  
  
Despite the simplicity of the attack it was also very effective.  
  
"Terrible," the ponytailed fighter said with a derisive snort. "I can't believe your eyes couldn't keep up with such a slow pace. I move faster than this at the breakfast table."  
  
Soun grit his teeth and snapped back to his feet, barely taking time to recenter himself he leapt up and tried to snap kick the boy in the head.  
  
"Awful," was the review as the boy stepped sideways and caught Soun's ankle. With one hand the momentum of the snap was amplified, sending the man into a backspin that ended with him sprawled once more on the floor.  
  
The dojo master sprang back up to try again. Only to be countered and sent painfully to the floor once more.  
  
"Horrible."  
  
Another counter.  
  
"Weak."  
  
Another throw.  
  
"Embarrassing."  
  
He'd had enough.  
  
When Soun tried once more to overtake his foe, he found himself in a painful hold on the ground rather than in a simple throw. He lay on his stomach with his arm bent back and held at the wrist, the boy's foot placed firmly on his shoulder. A little more pressure and the arm would be painfully broken.  
  
"I can't believe this is the best the Tendo school can do. You are an embarrassment to the name of Anything Goes."  
  
"Who are you to say such things!!!" screamed Soun through clenched teeth.  
  
Just as the answer was coming, the boy snapped his head to the side and avoided a punch that would have hit the back of his head. He then caught the wrist of his unseen assailant between his head and shoulder. With a shrug he put the attacker into an impossible looking throw that sent the person crashing loudly into the far wall.  
  
He sneered angrily at the girl who'd attempted to interrupt his match.  
  
"You would interfere with a match between men!?! You should know your place little girl!"  
  
Akane growled in anger at the boy who'd insulted her family name and style, but was silenced by the meancing growling emanating from the animal that accompanied the challenger. The dog had moved to her in the blink of an eye and appeared to be quite angry at her attempt to disrupt the fight.  
  
The animal barred it's fangs and looked to it's companion with a questioning glare. The young man shook his head to the silent question, leaving the foolish girl unhurt.  
  
He then looked back down to his opponent he still held on the floor. "Your daughter has interfered with a fight between men, and broken an unspoken law of the art. But I'll give you a chance to lose with your honor in tact. Do you submit?"  
  
On the ground Soun growled in frustration. The boy was right. His daughter had done a reckless thing and brought a shame to the school. There was only one way to save face now.  
  
"I... submit."  
  
"Daddy no!"  
  
"Akane!" Nabiki's voice once again silenced her younger sister. "You've done enough for today."  
  
The victor nodded appreciatevly at the middle Tendo and released his hold on his defeated opponent. He then noticed the looks on the faces of the family.  
  
He sighed deeply as he picked up his bag and head out to the yard, the dog close on his heels. "Don't worry. I don't want your sign," he said as he exited the dojo.  
  
The three Tendos looked up in shock as the victorious challenger's words hit. They quickly ran out into the yard and called out to the young man before he left.  
  
"Wait!" yelled Soun. "What is your name?"  
  
"The boy turned around and leveled a cool gaze at the family. "My name is-"  
  
"Ranma!?!" came a shocked cry from behind him, soon followed by the sound of grocery bags thudding onto the lawn  
  
The boy froze as he heard his name called. The voice seemed so familiar, but different.  
  
It couldn't be... but she did live in this town...  
  
"K-Kasumi?" he asked as he turned slowly.  
  
"Ranma I-" Before she could get another word out he was already over the compound wall, leaping across the rooftops, his animal companion hot on his heels. "Ranma wait!" Her family was treated to yet another suprise as the timid girl squat low and bound off after the boy named Ranma.  
  
A long, shocked silence befell the three left behind.  
  
"What the hell just happened!?!" voiced Nabiki. Akane stared off towards where her sister had disappeared. While Soun just did what he tended to do in these types of situations. Cry.  
  
"MY BABY HAS RUN AWAY!!!"  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
Ranma stood alone in an empty lot near the Tendo dojo. His ever present companion was waiting atop a roof a block away. Ranma had noticed Kasumi was following him, and after some thought had asked Lucied to stay behind so he could confront her alone.  
  
A light fluttering of cloth, and the smell of cherry blossoms alerted him to the older girl's presence as she landed behind him.  
  
"Ranma... It... it's good to see you. I've missed y-"  
  
"Save it! I trusted you," he snapped.  
  
Kasumi cringed at the cold tone in his voice. "I wanted you to know. I'm not the one who called the-"  
  
"BULLSHIT!!! Don't fucking lie to me!" he screamed as he turned to face the woman who as a girl had betrayed his trust. He then bit his tongue and regretted cursing at her as he saw the tears shining in her eyes.  
  
"It wasn't me!" she protested. "My father found out and forbade me from seeing you! He was the one who called the police!" She then finally gave into her emotions and let her tears run free. She ran forward and wrapped her arms around the friend she'd lost so many years ago.  
  
Ranma only stood in shock as the young woman cried loudly into his chest. He hesitated, but found himself returning the embrace, trying to comfort the sobbing girl.  
  
"I-I would n-never h-have betrayed you..." she sobbed.  
  
This was so confusing. She'd been the one to turn him in... hadn't she?  
  
She said she wasn't the one who'd done it... that it was her father...  
  
Could he trust her?  
  
Was this just another lie?  
  
But she couldn't be faking this... she seems so hurt... so sorry for something she denied doing.  
  
She continued to sob noisily into his chest, he could feel the dampness of her tears staining his blouse.  
  
Ranma came to a descision.  
  
"It's okay... Shhh... Calm down now..." he soothed as he rocked her back and forth gently. He sat them down and continued to hold her.  
  
They sat there in the lot for an unknown amount of time. Kasumi sat there, holding onto her friend and releasing the tension from years of heartache through her tears. Once she had calmed she found the sun was begining to set.  
  
"Thank you," she said as she released the boy and wiped her eyes once more. "I am sorry about your shirt."  
  
Ranma waved off her apology. "S'okay."  
  
They then turned and looked to the setting sun. A silence fell as they watched the golden orb slowly descend into the hills.  
  
"About what you said earlier..." started Ranma. He wanted the uncomfortable silence over with, but couldn't quite word the question he wanted to ask.  
  
"It was the truth," said Kasumi without turning to look at him directly, she'd sensed exactly what was bothering him.  
  
Ranma nodded to himself and continued to watch the sunset.  
  
At first Ranma had been pretty angry with the girl he'd known as a friend from so long ago, it was the kind of anger that was rock solid, unyielding and sure. When he'd first seen her back at the dojo, all that anger came bubbling back up. But after she'd broken down the way she had, he wasn't really so sure anymore.  
  
He'd heard often enough that a girl could use emotions like guilt to get men to do the things they wanted, but Kasumi didn't seem the type. Kasumi had a feel about her, an aura that was comforting and warm like the sunset they were watching.  
  
Initially he'd wanted to finally confront her, to lay to rest some nagging feeling he'd never really put down. He even expected to have to restrain himself from hitting her, but of course that's not the way it turned out.  
  
Ranma furroughed his brow annoyedly. He'd wanted to be mad at her, really he did. He wanted to know that the last eight years had not been spend in idle hatred of someone who didn't deserve it.  
  
But she'd said she hadn't turned him in, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't bring himself to call her a liar.  
  
"Must be losing my edge," he muttered to himself.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
Again slience.  
  
"Didn't this used to be a park? asked Ranma suddenly.  
  
"Yes. There was a fire a few years back and the city just decided to sell the property to developers, rather than spend the money to rebuild the park."  
  
The silence returned again until Ranma once more breeched a conversation.  
  
"You've got some moves."  
  
"Thanks. After you left I started training again."  
  
Ranma looked at his friend and raised his brow questioningly. "How come you never told me your last name was Tendo?"  
  
She gave a sly smile. "How come you never told me your family name?"  
  
"That's different."  
  
"How so?" she asked, truly curious.  
  
"I couldn't have told you if I'd wanted to," he replied with a tired sigh. "When my parents died, I swore that I'd be a rurouni, and would not take up my family name or present myself as the heir to my family school until I defeated the Tendo school."  
  
Kasumi blinked confusedly. "Why my school?"  
  
"Because it's the sister school to my own," he said with a smirk.  
  
"Really!?!"  
  
"Yup! When I was travelling with my parents, my pop would always tell me about the other school of Anything Goes. How it was the only school in the world that could compare to our own."  
  
"Wow..." said Kasumi.  
  
"Now that I've defeated your school, my quest is over and I can use my family name and school," stated the ponytailed boy with a content smirk. He was feeling remarkably relaxed and decided to lay back on the patch of grass under him.  
  
Kasumi blinked again. "You beat my father?"  
  
"Yeah." He frowned a little at the memory. "He wasn't that good. Pretty dissapointing to tell the truth."  
  
Kasumi sighed and lay back next to Ranma. "I know."  
  
He was a little suprised at that. "You agree?"  
  
She nodded. "He was a good fighter. Really he was. But when my mother died... he just didn't have the heart for it. His skills dulled over time from disuse."  
  
"Sorry..." he said after a moment's thought.  
  
"You ain't got anything to apologize for. S'not like ya killed her," she said in an imitation of a boy's voice, a sly grin on her lips.  
  
Ranma looked at the girl curiously. The girl then broke out laughing at the old memory, Ranma also snickering despite himself.  
  
"Oh my. I haven't laughed like that in a while," Kasumi said, her chuckling dying down.  
  
"Me either," said Ranma, his more subdued amusement having been much shorter lived.  
  
Kasumi looked at the person next to her and began to laugh again. He seemed so serious, even when he was laughing. This only caused the ponytailed martial artist to grumble a bit to himself.  
  
Her laughing quieted down soon enough, and she brooked the question she'd meant to ask a little earlier. "What is your family name anyway?"  
  
Ranma sat up straight and gave a cocky grin. "I am Ranma Saotome! Newest master the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts!"  
  
Kasumi couldn't help but smile at Ranma's enthusiasm about saying something as simple as his name. But since it was the first time he'd presented himself as such, she understood. He should be proud, he'd earned the title. She was even a little honored to be the first to hear it.  
  
They watched as the sunset came to it's last legs.  
  
"I should be going," commented Ranma, standing up and brushing the dust from his pants.  
  
Kasumi stood quickly and looked her slightly taller friend in the face. "Where are you going?"  
  
Ranma blinked at the question. Where was he going?  
  
"I don't really know," he replied honestly.  
  
"Well then you can stay with me!" she said cheerfully.  
  
"Huh!?!" said the young man intelligently.  
  
"That's right," stated Kasumi with a confident nod. "You come back after eight years, and decide to just walk off into the sunset? I don't think so Ranma Saotome."  
  
Ranma cringed a bit from the iron in her voice. A few seconds ago he was proud to have earned the name Ranma Saotome, but Kasumi had used the name in a way that made him feel like a kid in trouble with his mom.  
  
"I don't know," he protested. "Your family and I got off on a bad-"  
  
"My family has no say in the matter," she stated. "I am no longer a little girl who can be cowed by a stern glare from her father. If I want to have an old friend stay over for a while, that's my business."  
  
Ranma couldn't help but notice how much this older, more authoritive Kasumi was from the one he knew as a child. She was commanding, but at the same time her kind demeanor kept her from seeming bossy. Oh well, it would be nice to catch up with her. It had been almost a decade since they'd last seen each other.  
  
"Alright then," he conceded. "But do you mind if a friend of mine stays too?"  
  
The girl thought for a moment about who he could be talking about. Then she remembered something she'd seen at the house. "You mean that dog?"  
  
Ranma shrugged. "Yeah. But he's a special kind of dog."  
  
"How so?" asked Kasumi, yet again curious to what her friend meant.  
  
"It's better if I show you." He then turned to his left and whislted sharply. No sooner had he made the signal than the very same animal leapt from the roof of a nearby house, the bag still clenched between his teeth, to stand before the two reunited friends.  
  
"Well he is a very beautiful animal, and his breed isn't very common in this area, but I do fail to see what is so special about him," said the girl after examining the animal a moment.  
  
"Oh really? This dog can talk ya know."  
  
Kasumi looked to Ranma skeptically. "You shouldn't lie Ranma. It isn't very nice."  
  
The boy ignored her comment and spoke to the wolf in dog's clothing. "Introduce yourself."  
  
Lucied gave his partner a suprised look, but did as he was asked when Ranma gave him a nod. The animal extended one of it's fore legs and bent the other, allowing him the appearance of a bow. "My name is Lucied. It is a pleasure to finally meet the infamous Kasumi." His introduction made, Lucied dropped his disguise and turned back into his much larger natural form.  
  
Kasumi would have screamed at having just seen a talking german sheperd. A talking german sheperd that turned into a purple wolf the size of a large tiger. A talking german sheperd that turned into a purple wolf the size of a large tiger and had fangs and claws the size of small swords.  
  
She would have screamed.  
  
But he was just so polite.  
  
"I am pleased to meet you as well talking dog," responded Kausmi with a bow.  
  
Lucied growled a bit at being called a "talking dog," much to Ranma's amusement. "Just Lucied if you would."  
  
"Very well then. Lucied it is. I would love to have you as a guest in my home." She then took notice of the color of Lucied's fur in comparison to Ranma's clothing. "I think it's so cute that you two are color coordinated."  
  
The two travelling partners looked at each other, then at themselves. "I don't see it," they said in unison. The little show caused Kasumi to giggle again.  
  
Once the girl had calmed, and Lucied had slipped back into his disguised form, the three then started off for the Tendo compound.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
"Kasumi! My baby has come home!!!" exclaimed Soun as his eldest daughter strolled through the front gates.  
  
"Hey sis. You freaked us out pretty good. Where'd you go anyway?" inquired Nabiki from her seat at the family table. This whole fiasco had left the scheming girl in the dark. And she hated being in the dark.  
  
"How did you jump over that wall the way you did? And more importantly, why'd you go chasing after that boy Kasumi?" asked the youngest of the three, her face scrunched up as she said the word boy, as though it left a bad taste in her mouth.  
  
Soun sprinted across the lawn, his tearducts on full blast as he neared his daughter. But he stopped mere feet from her as another person entered into the yard and stood by her side.  
  
"YOU!!!" screamed Soun as he came face to face with the young rurouni who'd defeated him only hours before. "What are you doing here!?!" the man said in his most menacing voice.  
  
Ranma stepped up to the older man, not willing to back down to anyone. "Hah! I just came to have a little word with you. I hear you where the one who set the cops on me!" Ranma's tone took an aggressive edge, honed from years on the street.  
  
"I did no such thing!" protested the man angrily. The boy makes light of his school, tries to steal his oldest away, and then accuses him of something he'd never done?  
  
"Calm down you two," interrupted Kasumi. She needed to stop this argument before it degraded into something a fist fight. "Father? Do you remember eight years ago when I'd been visiting a friend in the park?"  
  
Soun stopped for a moment and thought about it. He seemed to recall something about his daughter being fixated with a vagrant she'd met in the park. If he remembered correctly, the boy had been homeless and Kasumi had befriended him... No... It couldn't be...  
  
Kasumi nodded as she saw recognition dawn in her father's eyes. "Yes father. I'd like you to meet Ranma."  
  
A sudden breeze whistled by, swaying the grass and creating the only sound in the Tendo yard. Soun could only stand with his mouth agap.  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
"Kasumi just brought home her first boyfriend," whispered Nabiki in answer to her younger sister's question. "It looks as though father called the cops on this Ranma character for some reason, must've been a while back because I don't remeber it. Guess that's why he was such a jerk when he came to challenge us."  
  
The two continued to watch the unfolding scene like it was some cheesy daytime drama.  
  
"Furthermore, he will be staying in our guest room. We've not seen each other in quite a while and I'd like to get caught up with him."  
  
"Wow. Didn't know she had it in her," exclaimed Nabiki, she was impressed.  
  
Akane's reaction was a little different. The tin of peanuts she'd been munching out of was currently a little ball of tin. A boy their house? Had Kasumi gone mad!?!  
  
"I SHALL NOT ALLOW IT!!!" Soun went into the standard defensive parent mode once the full realization of his daughter's words hit. "Just who do you think you are you punk!?! Passing judgement on my skills, insulting our family style and now trying to seduce my little Kasumi!?!?!"  
  
"First of all I never insulted your family style. I insulted you. And only because you're a weakling." Ranma's words were getting Soun angrier and he knew it. "Second, don't call me a punk. My name is Ranma Saotome, and I have every right to judge your skills as the master from the Saotome branch of Anything Goes."  
  
Soun's world suddenly became very dark, and the floor became very close, very quickly.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
Everything was still hazy when he tried to open his eyes. His lids were far too heavy to fully open, and everything was still just a blur. His ears pickd up only a strange buzzing.  
  
He must have gotten very drunk sometime in the night.  
  
"Ugh..."  
  
"Lay back down father." The voice seemed to be a million miles away, but getting closer. "I don't think you hit your head when you fell. How do you feel?"  
  
The buzzing subsided jsut enough for him to match the voice to his oldest daughter.  
  
"I'm fine Kasumi. Just a little out of sorts."  
  
What a dream! He'd dreamt that the boy rurouni Kasumi had been gallavanting about with all those years ago had returned, challenged him to a duel, beaten him, and then revealed himself to be named Ranma Saotome. Not only did the boy in the dream say he was a Saotome, but that he was also a master from the Saotome branch of his school.  
  
But that was preposterous. If that had been true, then something must have happened to Genma and his wife. Furthermore, it would have meant that he'd called the authorities on the boy that was to marry one of his daughters and carry on his dojo. Meaning he'd have unintentionally jeopardized the union of the schools.  
  
Truly preposterous.  
  
"Here's that wash cloth you wanted Kasumi."  
  
"Thank you Ranma."  
  
His pain forgotten, the injured man shot up like like he'd been set on fire. "Are you Ranma Saotome?"  
  
The ponytailed boy looked the man dead in the eyes. "Yeah that's me."  
  
'Son of Genma and Nodoka Saotome?" he asked carefully.  
  
"How'd you know their names?" Ranma asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.  
  
"OH HAPPY DAY!!!" Soun then stood and did a little dance, while setting off party favors and firecrackers. This was turly great news for the school. Sure the boy may be an arrogant punk, but he was a powerful arrogant punk. "Tell me. Where is Saotome anyways? I've not seen that old dog in ages!"  
  
Ranma paused and frowned at Soun's question. "He's dead..."  
  
Those words stopped the celebrating. "What!?! What of your mother?"  
  
"Her too..."  
  
'H-how did this happen?"  
  
The young fighter's frown turned to a full sneer. "None of your business," he snapped.  
  
In response Soun stared the boy down with a look as cold as anything thrown his way. "Genma was my best friend. Only our friendship allowed to survive the harsh training rigors of the road. How he died is very much my business."  
  
Ranma's anger subsided a little, but still lurked beneath the suface of his calm exterior. He understood what it was like to forge a friendship in order to stay sane while on the road.  
  
"Landslide. Nine years ago. I made it, they didn't."  
  
Soun, sat silently and let the news sink in. There was only one way to honor the memory of his Genma and his wife.  
  
"You like my daughter don't you?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Kasumi. You like her, do you not?"  
  
"Well..." Ranma mulled over whether or not to answer. Of course he liked Kasumi. Other than Lucied, she was the only real friend he'd ever had. He then decided to be truthful, because weakling or not, he was still Kasumi's dad. "Yeah. What of it?"  
  
The man nodded sagely. "I must first apologize for what I did to you as a child. Had I known who you were, I would have brought you into my home myself. There is only one thing I can offer as penance."  
  
"What's that?" Ranma was actually intrigued as to what Soun had to offer, he noticed by the look on Kasumi's face that she was curious as well.  
  
Soun stood and walked over to where the two friends stood, pushed them closer together, and placed a hand on their shoulders. "I give to you my daughter's hand in marriage."  
  
"WHAT!?!" screamed four voices in unison, the two girls eavesdropping in the hall joining in on the converstion.  
  
Just outside the door, Lucied in his hidden form, sat and did his best impression of a smirk. 'Things are going to get fun," he thought to himself.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
Another day.  
  
A peaceful haze drifted over the the neighborhood like a fog. Early risers rose from their beds groggily and began to prepare for the day ahead. Many commentented to themselves about what a serene morning this was turning out to be.  
  
"HYAH!!!" The battle cry that broke the morning silence was soon followed by another in reply.  
  
Nabiki, Akane and their father bolted into the hall, their slumber having been disturbed by the commotion. The three then head down the stairs and into the yard which seemed to be the source of whatever had awakened them. What they found was truly unexpected.  
  
Kasumi and Ranma were midair when the Tendo family first laid eyes on them. They hung in the air for seemingly extended moments. Their hands and feet flew with grace as their bodies swayed and spun, keeping their momentum focused to allow them to defy the laws of gravtiy momentarily.  
  
They landed opposed to each other and entered into an impressive ground level sparring session. But soon enought the fight returned to the air and the beautiful skybourne ballet continued again.  
  
After a few more minutes of this, the two combatants bowed to one another and head into the house, drying themselves off with towels brought to them by Lucied.  
  
"That was good Kasumi. You were born for midair combat."  
  
"Thank you Ranma."  
  
Kasumi's family could only watch slack jawed as the two friends and their dog calmly stode into the living room and engaged in idle chit chat.  
  
"Umm..." interrupted Soun. "Kasumi?"  
  
"Yes father?" She adjusted the top of her pink gi as she turned to address her father.  
  
"When did you..."  
  
"He means when did you get so good at martial arts," Nabiki finished for her father. Apparently he'd yet to fully come to grips with his gentle daughter being such a skilled martial artist. Some of the moves she'd used put what their father had used in the fight the day before to shame.  
  
Kasumi just cocked her head and pouted in thought. "I've always been good."  
  
"When did you have time to train?" exclaimed Akane curiously.  
  
"Well I am the first one up in the morning and the last one in bed at night."  
  
"What, did you think she did nothing but housework for seventeen hours a day?" asked Ranma derisively.  
  
"Well... Yeah."  
  
"Show's how much you know," said Lucied with a snort. "Everybody has to have a hobby."  
  
Blink.  
  
Blink blink.  
  
"OH MY GOD THAT DOG JUST TALKED!!!" shouted the two sister's and their father in unison. Akane was trying to keep from fainting while Nabiki and Soun continued to boggle at the sight of a talking dog.  
  
Ranma looked down to his partner and gave him a light rap on the head. "Smooth move. I thought we were going to break it to them easy."  
  
"Feh. At least now I can drop this damn disguise. I hate this thing." Lucied then shifted back to his normal form.  
  
That did it.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"  
  
Ranma gave the transformed wolf another rap on the head, this time a little harder, while Kasumi tried to calm her family.  
  
"Please calm down! Lucied is a very nice-put down that table-creature! I understand that he may seem a little-where did you get that naginata-odd! But once you get to know him-I said put down that table!"  
  
"This will obviously take a while," commented Lucied.  
  
"No doubt. I'm going to go take a bath."  
  
"Be my guest."  
  
Ranma frowned. "You come too."  
  
"I don't need to bathe, you know that."  
  
"Yeah, but this might go smoother with you out of the room," said Ranma, indicating the scene with his thumb.  
  
"Alright then."  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
A sigh of contentment escaped Ranma's lips as he lowered himself into the steamy furo. Hot water never failed to relax him, but was one of those luxuries denied to him unless he wanted to spend some money.  
  
He lay back and let the soothing heat release the knots in his muscles. Nearby Lucied was laying down, watching the steam wisp by.  
  
Ranma's thoughts turned back to the previous night. It still brought a frown to his face. Who did Soun think he was? Telling him who he'd marry. Didn't it ever occur to him that maybe he and Kasumi didn't like each other that way.  
  
"Stop lying to yourself."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Ranma.  
  
"You know you like her," said the wolf with more than a hint of amusement in his voice.  
  
"And what makes you say that?"  
  
"Don't forget who you're talking to. I always know how you feel, it's a part of what I am."  
  
"Shut up. I haven't seen her in almost a decade. Even if, and I mean if, I were to have feelings like that for her, it's way too soon."  
  
"Ever hear of love at first sight?" he asked with a snicker.  
  
Ranma's frown deepened and he looked away purposefully. "I thought I told you to shut up." He sunk a little more into the water. He busied himself by making little squirts of water by clenching his fist at the furo's surface. "So what do you think of her anyway?" he finally ventured after a moment.  
  
"She's seems very nice," replied Lucied as he scratched at the back of his left ear. "Hardly the cold, traitorous bitch you made her out to be."  
  
Ranma remained quiet at that. His hunch to trust Kasumi again had been validified the previous night when Soun had confessed to the crime. So much time wasted hating a person with such a kind heart. He'd have throttled the man on the spot had he thought Kasumi would let him get away with it.  
  
"She's very pretty too."  
  
"Yeah-hey wait a sec!" yelled the ponytailed fighter.  
  
Lucied snickered. "Too late, you can't take it back!"  
  
"You tricked me and you know it!"  
  
"Calm down. You know I'm just kidding."  
  
Ranma sunk in a little more and grumbled in annoyance.  
  
"Sounds like she's calmed them a bit," commented Lucied, his sensitive ears perked and twitching slightly.  
  
The boy nodded and got out of the comforting bath, promising himself to get back in a little later. He quickly toweled off and dressed himself in his usual clothing before going down to make his explainantions.  
  
This promised to be a long day.  
  
  
++++++++++++  
  
  
"I think it would be best if I just introduce myself. My name is Lucied."  
  
Currently the entire Tendo family, plus their two guests were gathered around the family table. The three who had been previously unaware of the talking animal were being understandably skittish. Soun even had to be forced to remove his samurai armor before the discussion could begin.  
  
"Yeah yeah. We know that," said Nabiki. "What we want to know is how you can talk."  
  
"Because I am Lucied," said the large violet wolf irritatedly, as though his name was the answer to all the girl's questions.  
  
It wasn't.  
  
"See. There's another person who's never heard of you."  
  
"Shut up Ranma!" snapped Lucied. "Humans these days are such uncultured cretins."  
  
"Come now Lucied," soothed Kasumi. She'd been told about what Lucied was the day before on the walk home, so she had some insight into the situation. "You can't really blame them for having never heard of you. From what you've told me the Guardians have not been seen on the earth in many thousands of years."  
  
"Guardians?" asked Akane.  
  
Lucied nodded. "Guardians were at one time protectors of the Earth. But the Guardians became angered with the greed and evil of the humans, who were at constant war with one another. So they locked themselves away into another dimenson known as the Abyss."  
  
"And you are one of these Guardians?" asked Soun.  
  
"Yes, the Guardian of Desire to be exact."  
  
"So why didn't you get locked away?"  
  
"I was. Ranma freed me."  
  
Everyone save Kasumi and Lucied looked to the ponytailed martial artist. "How?" asked Nabiki after taking a moment to size Ranma up.  
  
"I am the Guradian of Desire. Ranma had a powerful desire to become a great fighter, it was enought to draw me back to this world." Lucied looked over at Ranma and noticed the gratitude in his eyes.  
  
True, Ranma had drawn Lucied from his slumber with his desire, but not his desire to become the best fighter, however great it may be. No, it was his desire to have a true friend. But he knew Ranma wouldn't appreciate Lucied telling that to other people, he thought it might make him look weak.  
  
"Your father would be so proud!" screamed Soun as he moved over and tried to hug the boy, and recieving a foot in the face for his troubles.  
  
"Just sit back down and don't push it," Ranma said as he pushed the man back down onto his cushion.  
  
"Ranma! You will give your father in law a manly embrace!"  
  
"I said sit down!"  
  
"You can't talk to my dad like that!"  
  
"Oh dear," sighed Kasumi. Looks like she needed to break up another fight.  
  
"Let them go at it," said Nabiki who was just turning on the daily news to check her stocks. "They'll feel better after a little fight."  
  
"I guess you're right," conceded Kasumi. She looked over at Lucied was settling down to watch the tv with Nabiki. "I guess I should go get started on breakfast." She then scrunched her nose as she caught a whiff of herself. "After a bath."  
  
  
++++++++++++  
  
  
Kasumi was kneeling in the hallway with a wash rag when she heard the soft pattering of someone walking towards her.  
  
"Need any help?" asked Lucied.  
  
"If you wouldn't mind," Kasumi beamed the guardian a smile as she took an extra rag from the bucket, and placed it at his feet.  
  
Lucied placed his front paws down on the rag firmly and walked back and forth down the hall. The giant wolf's actions caused Kasumi to giggle. It was just so cute!  
  
Together they were able to quickly finish the hall, and then the kitchen.  
  
"Let's go do the dojo now," said Kasumi as she gathered the bucket and rags. Lucied followed her out the yard and into the training hall, where they once again began to clean in earnest.  
  
"Where's Ranma?"  
  
Lucied stopped for a moment and looked thoughtful. "Said he was going to go for a walk around town. Must've gotten tired of fighting with your dad and sister."  
  
"Oh dear," she pouted. "I wish they'd get along better."  
  
"Yeah, well that's just how it goes I guess," said the guardian casually. "Though I am suprised you let Ranma get away with talking to your dad the way he does. I mean he was the one that split you guys apart, but sometimes Ranma can be very insulting."  
  
"I know," said Kasumi with a tired sigh. "I don't know what I can tell him though. I love my father, but even I still have not gotten over what he did." She put her rag inside the bucket and sat on the hard wood floor as Lucied came over sat next to her.  
  
"You don't really seem all that angry from what I can tell."  
  
"I'm willing to put it behind me, because I know that the important thing is that Ranma is here now. I just wish Ranma realized that too." The girl turned her head and looked out the door of the dojo at nothing in particular.   
  
"Why don't you just tell him that?"  
  
"Maybe..." Kasumi sat for a moment more, thinking about something she'd been wanting to know all day. "Lucied?"  
  
"What?"  
  
She fidgeted slightly and continued to stare out into the yard. "You're... Ranma's best friend right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"So... Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure. What?" The large violet wolf cocked his head and furled his tail curiously.  
  
"Do you know if... If Ranma is still... You know..."  
  
"Still what?" Lucied's ears started to twitch. She was skirting around her own question, like she was afraid of the answer.  
  
Might as well come right out and ask. "Is he still angry at me?"  
  
Lucied blinked. "Is that all? Kasumi, he already knows that your father was the one that ratted him out."  
  
"I know, but does he blame me at all? I can't even imagine how he must have felt towards me for the last eight years."  
  
"Kasumi," he said as he gave his little wolf smirk. "I know for a fact that he's not angry with you."  
  
"Really?" she asked hopefully.  
  
"Yeah. Really."  
  
Kasumi gave the guardian a tight hug and they started back on the job at hand.  
  
"Ugh," thought Lucied to himself once he realized what was going on. "I hope this match maker stuff doesn't last much longer."  
  
  
++++++++++++  
  
  
Notes:  
  
New chap at last!  
  
Yeah, Ranma/Kasumi fic. But that doesn't mean I don't have some plans to keep this thing interesting. I've barely even touched on the main story line yet.  
  
Hehe, oh such plans have I... ^_^  
  
If it looks like I'm taking entirely way too long to finish a chap, just mail me and give some C&C or encouragement. I really like it when readers get into my stories enough to actually mail me and light the fires so to speak. It's very flattering.  
  
  
EX Notes: The additional scene at the end was originally planned for the next chapter, but I decided to put it in this rewrite to sate those of you who thought Kasumi was letting Ranma get away with too much. Tell me if this is a satisfactory mending.  
  
  
Next time on Wild Guardian: Away to school we go!  
  
  
Tszietzen  
  
-Guy  
  
  
This fic can be found at:  
  
fanfiction.net  
or  
tannim.anifics.com/index.html  
or  
www.geocities.com/c_mach2k1.html  
or  
www.geocities.com/animeinsomniac  
  
  
  
Built by Text2Html 


	3. Someone He Likes

Disclaimer: Today we bring to you, for your fic reading pleasure, a word association game. Ranma=Takahashi; Wild Arms=Sony; Guy=Poor :(  
  
  
Today's theme is: The Way – by Fastball  
EX theme: Chaos - by Penicillin; J-rock band. If you've never heard of them, get thyself to an import store, they kick. ^_^  
  
  
C&C, hate mail, and questions on your Arm's service warranty to:  
guy_jin@hotmail.com  
  
  
By: Guy Jin  
Wild Guardian  
  
Someone He Likes  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Ranma sat alone atop the roof of the Tendo household. A half moon hung lazily overhead, casting a dull glow over the Earth. The ponytailed wanderer was alone, allowing his mind to drift away in the peaceful chirping of the crickets below.  
  
A slight ruffling sound near the opposite end of the roof brought him from his silent meditations. The pleasant smell of cherry blossoms told him who the intruder was without needing to look.  
  
"Lucied said you might be up here," said Kasumi as she walked over and took a seat next to the boy. "I didn't get to see much of you today."  
  
"Got tired of arguing with your family," he replied simply. He cracked his knuckles lazily as an amused smirk spread on his lips. "Might actually be fun if I thought they were strong enough to back up their words."  
  
"Ranma, you shouldn't make judgments on people based on how strong or skilled they are," she lectured with a frown.  
  
"Why not?" asked Ranma, a genuine look of confusion on his face.  
  
"Well for one, it's not very nice," stated the girl matter-of-factly as she accentuated off each word with a wag of her index finger.  
  
"What's that got to do with anything?" questioned Ranma incredulously. "When I was on the road-"  
  
"But that's the thing! You're not on the road anymore," Kasumi practically yelled.  
  
Ranma snorted and looked away. "For right now," he muttered.  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?" she questioned in slight irritation.  
  
"I'm not going to be here forever you know. When I leave, things will be the way they've always been." Ranma's eyes became distant and weary looking as he stared off at the large office buildings towering over the main district. "Lucied and I doing what we have to, to get by."  
  
"So... you want to leave..." Kasumi's tone lowered, sullen emotion seeping into her words.  
  
He snapped his head back around, cursing himself for saying something he hadn't thought all the way through. Tears shone in her eyes as she biting her lip and wrung her hands nervously. Obviously his thoughtless comments had hurt her.  
  
"T-that's not what I meant," he stuttered, his mind trying to think of something helpful quickly.  
  
Kasumi turned her back, but her voice strengthened a bit. "Then what did you mean?"  
  
He winced at the hurt tone of her voice. "I mean, that... well, I don't want to be a... you know... a freeloader... Lucied and I have always looked after ourselves. What we needed, we got ourselves. What wasn't needed, we did without." He reached down and fiddled lightly with a loose roof shingle.  
  
"Is that all the problem is?" she asked cryptically.  
  
"Well, yeah," responded Ranma, not all too sure he'd said the right thing.  
  
"Then that's not a problem at all," stated Kasumi, her voice returning to its normal cheer as she turned back around to look him in the eyes.  
  
Kasumi's sudden mood change startled the ponytailed boy, causing him to snap the shingle. "Um... It isn't?" he asked while trying to place the broken piece of ceramic into place inconspicuously.  
  
"Of course not! Ranma, you've spent so long traveling, you've forgotten what it's like to have a home." She gripped Ranma's hand in her own, and turned her head to him with a soulful gaze. "I don't think anyone should be without a place to call home."  
  
Ranma's heart seized in his chest momentarily, Kasumi's eyes holding a warm caring he was unused too. Suddenly the full effect of her words hit home.  
  
"I don't need pity," scoffed Ranma with a shake of his head. He tried to pull away from the older girl, but she held a firm grip.  
  
"It's not pity," she protested, shaking her head. "It's concern. I want you to be happy Ranma. You can make this your home if you want."  
  
"I-is this, about the engagement?" asked Ranma cautiously.  
  
She shook her head again. "That has nothing to do with this. I'll not allow my father to force you, nor I into anything we don't want."  
  
Ranma nodded gratefully. "I know that. I wouldn't either. If he tried to do force anything on us, then I'd have to show him that he can't get away with that crap."  
  
"There you go again," said Kasumi, frowning. She fidgeted nervously with the hem of her skirt, gathering some courage. "I want you to promise me that you'll at least try and be civil with my family."  
  
"But they're jerks!" he protested hotly.  
  
"I know you don't like them much, but you've only just met them. If you tried, then I'm sure they'd warm up to you." She sat there silently, praying that Ranma would be willing to grant this favor without too much protest.  
  
Ranma turned his head away with a bitter frown. "Fine, but don't expect me to let them walk all over me."  
  
"I wouldn't dream of it," she replied with a cheery smile.  
  
Together they sat, looking up at the brightly shining stars that stood out so brilliantly against the dark curtain of night. Neither one noticing that they'd yet to let go of the other's hand.  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Dark, frozen shadows surrounding him on all sides; that was all that was visible to his eyes, but he knew there was more to the room, much more. A light bathed his immediate area, as though to substantiate his memory by illuminating part of the dismally sterile chamber.  
  
A slow tingle started in the tips of his extremities, and crept along the rest of his form, increasing in intensity as his nerves began to register feeling again.  
  
The green liquid he was submersed within offered little comfort from the crawling sensations of his flesh, or the muddled, hazy buzz in his head.  
  
The liquid began to drain slowly, allowing the suspended man a clearer sense of being.  
  
The clear cylinder he was enclosed within sank into the grated platform he stood upon. He stepped forward warily, shaking his head clear of the cobwebs. There was none of the fluid on his body, it having been designed as a "dry" liquid.  
  
With a raspy hiss, a steel tube rose from the ground to his right, finally stopping at just above his own height. The solid gray object opened a seamless panel, presenting the man with his clothing.  
  
Without a word, he quickly dressed himself in the rough, black tunic and trousers, and then slipped over it his shining black armor. He adjusted his long brown hair, pulling it free from the flowing red cape that cascaded from his large epaulets. The last of his clothing removed from it, the seven foot container retreated to its resting place.  
  
Now dressed, he march stiffly down the shadowed labs, and out into the great halls through a door that opened automatically with the same rasp as the cylinder.  
  
He walked onward, silent and observative. After a moment, he was standing within the bridge of his great vessel. A dark green carpet lined his path to the main console, which towered many stories high.  
  
"What have you found that would warrant my awakening from stasis?" he asked in a commanding voice which echoed in the vast chamber.  
  
Lights flickered on, illuminating the areas that were only moments ago shadowed from his view. A tiny man stepped forward and offered a respective salute. He was hunched over and frail looking, but moved with a spring in his step.  
  
"Commander, as you know, our expedition is in peril, but I believe I've found the answer to our energy problems."  
  
"Excellent! Show me your findings Cardoz."  
  
The man saluted crisply and walked over to the main panel of the hulking computer. He powered it up quickly, and displayed maps and statistics on his discoveries.  
  
The larger of the men read the screen interestedly, but frowned halfway through. "This system looks familiar."  
  
"Yes, we've been here before," Cardoz replied as he drew up a second set of statistics along side the one already shown. "This was taken a hundred years ago. As you can see, substandard, but the new readings show it suitable."  
  
The armor clad giant rubbed his face with his plated gauntlet. "What could have caused such a dramatic change in so quickly?" he muttered in thought.  
  
"It is unknown at this time," answered the little man, running his fingers through his long, wispy white hair in frustration.  
  
"Bah!" he scoffed. "It matters not. How much time until we reach this place?"  
  
The tiny scientist clicked at the panel again, showing a new map displaying their course. "In one static week."  
  
The larger man smirked wickedly as he stared at the displayed image of a small blue globe. Things were starting to look up.  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Ranma sat at the table in the living room, sighing in content as he rubbed his filled stomach. His after meal relaxations were short lived as Nabiki walked over and dropped a plain white cardboard box in his lap.  
  
Ranma glared in annoyance at the girl as he opened the box and peered inside. "What's this?" asked Ranma in confusion.  
  
Lucied padded over to his partner and looked into the box that Nabiki had dropped into his lap. "Looks like a school uniform."  
  
The ponytailed martial artist gave the Guardian a sideways glance, "I know what it looks like. What I want to know is what it's for."  
  
"One would think it would be for wearing to school," replied Nabiki tersely.  
  
"And why would I need a school uniform?" he questioned, his eyebrow twitching slightly and his fingers drummed on the table anxiously.  
  
"Because today you start your first day of school," supplied Soun helpfully as he entered the family room with his newspaper, a hot cup of coffee in his free hand. He took his seat at the head of the table and began to read.  
  
Ranma's eyes narrowed dangerously, "You have got to be shitting me."  
  
Soun put his newspaper and drink down on the table. He adopted a dominant sitting posture, back straight, his shoulders squared and his chin held up. "I assure you that I am most certainly not, 'shitting you,'" he declared in a commanding tone, "I will not have an uneducated child under my roof, especially when that child is to marry my eldest daughter."  
  
"Who the hell d-" Ranma's angry comments were cut off by a quiet cough from Kasumi as she entered from the kitchen. She'd managed to walk in just in time to hear the last few bits of the conversation, and stop Ranma from starting another argument.  
  
"I think you should go Ranma," said Lucied.  
  
"Damn it, not you too..." muttered Ranma as he rubbed his face tiredly. "And why do you think I should?"  
  
"Well, it does look like we'll be here for a while. Besides, you should always be open to new experiences," said the Guardian sagely.  
  
Nabiki raised an eyebrow questioningly at Lucied's last comment. " Ranma,what do he mean, 'new' experiences," she questioned, stressing the word that had initially caught her attention.  
  
An inaudible mumble from Ranma came as a reply.  
  
"What was that?" asked Nabiki, a hand to her ear in an 'I can't hear you' manner.  
  
The same mumbled reply came, this time accompanied by a frustrated twitch.  
  
"I still can't hear you," taunted Nabiki with a smirk as she leaned forward slightly.  
  
"I said I've never been to school!" he shouted.  
  
"Hmm... That would explain the difficulties we had in getting you enrolled," commented Soun with a thoughtful nod which was seconded by a nod from Nabiki.  
  
Overhead, the heavy thumping of someone running to the stairs sounded. Akane dashed into the room, her hair only half finished and her uniform wrinkled. "I KNEW IT!!!"  
  
"You knew what, A-cup? That cotton stuffed better than tissue?" growled Ranma.  
  
"Ah, that's sooo clever!" retorted Akane, wagging a finger tauntingly, "Did you think that one up all by yourself?"  
  
"Akane! Stop teasing Ranma," admonished Kasumi with a frown and a mildly harsh tone, managing to stem further taunting. She then gave Ranma his own chastising look, silently giving him a similar admonishment without embarrassing the prideful boy.  
  
"Now," the older girl started slowly. "I think you should go as well. Father has already arranged for you to enter the high school here, so you should take advantage of the opportunity."  
  
"For what? I don't need school. I can read, write, and speak in six languages fluently, plus I know enough math to shop and not get ripped off," stated Ranma, counting off each of his traits on his fingers.  
  
"All that and you've yet to do something most six year olds have done," said Lucied condescendingly.  
  
"Shut your hole!" snapped Ranma angrily, giving the wolf a light rap on the head and scowling in irritation.  
  
"It's not like I said anything that wasn't true!" retorted Lucied hotly, giving Ranma a quick nip on the arm.  
  
"Ranma," said Kasumi, drawing the boy's attention back to the conversation. "Will you please go? If only because I asked?"  
  
Ranma frowned thoughtfully. "Fine." He stood and pulled the uniform from the box. "But this is where I draw the line," he stated, tearing both the pant and shirt in half at the same time. "If the officials don't want me out of uniform, they can change the dress code."  
  
Kasumi sighed, handing Ranma a book bag that had been underneath the clothing in the box. "Very well, just hurry though," she sighed. She turned a look to her two sisters as well, "You too, you three are already late as it is."  
  
Ranma nodded and head out for the front. He stopped before stepping out and said over his shoulder, "You coming Lucied?"  
  
The Guardian shook his head. "Nah, I'll stay here. I'm not sure they allow wolves in schools these days," he replied, looking to Kasumi for confirmation, and receiving a nod to that affect.  
  
Ranma just shrugged, "Whatever. Let's go, Nabiki, A-cup," he said, eliciting a smirk and a shout from Nabiki and Akane respectively.  
  
As he stepped out the front door he heard Soun starting up a conversation with Kasumi. "You two make a wonderful couple, Kasumi. I must make plans for the wedding immediately."  
  
Ranma growled in annoyance, but restrained himself, and headed out for his first day of school.  
  
  
+++++++++++++++  
  
  
Ranma held his bag behind his head, strolling lazily on the length of chain link fence that ran along side a canal.  
  
It was warm out, despite the slight overcast that was moving in with the breeze. The day seemed pleasant enough. Too bad he was going to have to spend it locked away inside some school.  
  
"What are you doing up there?" questioned the older of the three.  
  
He glanced down momentarily in recognition of Nabiki before he went back to staring at nothing. "On the fence? Nothing really. It's kind of an evasion technique I picked up somewhere and it just turned into a habit."  
  
The girls blinked at that. "An evasion technique?" asked Nabiki slowly. "Seems like it'd be a bad one, since you stick out like a sore thumb."  
  
He snorted roughly in response. "Shows how much you know about martial arts. A part of human nature is that if you're not looking for something specifically, then you don't notice it if it's not right in front of your face."  
  
Nabiki raised an eyebrow appreciatively at his reasoning.  
  
They all walked on a bit more, in a somewhat companionable silence, until Akane decided to speak up.  
  
"Our sister isn't going to marry you," explained the girl with a scowl.  
  
"That's not your decision to make," he replied, shooting the girl an unreadable gaze. He stepped sideways from off his elevated position, the fencing having run into a turn away from his path.  
  
"Shows how much you know," responded Akane haughtily, "we're her sisters, so it's our duty to make sure she doesn't marry some bum."  
  
Ranma just ignored the two girls, not really caring to hear what they had to say. Sisters or not, it wasn't any of their business what kind of relationship he and Kasumi had.  
  
The ponytailed fighter's thoughts were halted as he felt himself suddenly drenched.  
  
He looked over to see the retreating form of an elderly woman walking back towards her house, carrying a bucket and ladle.  
  
"Why that old bag," he muttered, turning to walk down the path to give the woman a piece of his mind.  
  
"Where do you think you're going?" Akane queried.  
  
Ranma continued unabated, paying no heed to the girls behind him.  
  
"I don't think Kasumi would much appreciate you missing your first day, because you were in county for accosting an elderly woman," called Nabiki, a mischievous tint in her voice.  
  
Ranma snapped straight and spun back on his heel. The old woman was off the hook... for now.  
  
They continued onward again, silent save for the occasional chatter between the two sisters.  
  
Ranma wasn't paying attention much attention to the girls, but his attention was caught when Akane cut herself off midsentence, and began a mantra.  
  
It started in low, even tones, and slowly proceeded into more forceful, emotional words.  
  
"I hate boys," chanted the fuming girl. "I hate boys. I HATE boys. I HATE BOYS!!!"  
  
Akane quickly broke into a sprint, heading in the direction of what Ranma assumed was the school he'd be attending. Nabiki kept a steady walking speed, seemingly unaffected by whatever had just prompted her sister to prepare herself for some kind of battle.  
  
Ranma just shrugged and kept pace with Nabiki, figuring that if she wasn't worried, why should he?  
  
As they neared the gates, the sounds of a fight could be heard clearly. Battle cries, people exclaiming in pain, the sound of fists impacting heavily on flesh.  
  
"Now what the hell is this?" he asked with an eyebrow quirked.  
  
Akane spun madly, lashing out in every direction, her fist of fury dropping opponents like wheat before the reaper. The large mob appeared to be made of boys their own age, many dressed in some form of sporting equipment or team uniform.  
  
"They're trying to get a date with her," was the casual response.  
  
Ranma blinked, and addressed the girl next to him cautiously. "Date... her? Now why the hell would anyone want to do that?"  
  
"Two thousand yen," was the answer.  
  
"Huh?" boggled Ranma. "Yen?"  
  
"That's the price of information," she replied coolly.  
  
"You think I'm stupid? You can only put a price on useful or rare information," he said, shaking his head absently. "What I just asked is conversational at best."  
  
"Tatewaki Kuno," replied Nabiki after some thought, but doing so with a frown. "He's in my class, but has a thing for Akane. He's a weird guy, to say the least. But he's also the captain of the Kendo club, and the strongest fighter in school."  
  
"And this Kuno what? Ordered these other guys to attack her?" Ranma scratched his nose thoughtfully. He took a moment to slap down a soccer ball before it hit him in the face. These guys may be weak, but they sure are creative, he'd give them that.  
  
"No. Akane kept shooting him down, so he figured it had to be another guy," she explained. "So he made the declaration that if you wanted to date her, then you had to beat her in a fight. I guess he figured that since no one in school has even near her level of skill in the school beside him, he had all the time he needed to get her."  
  
Nabiki paused a moment to wince in sympathy for a boy that had been kicked particularly hard. "Eventually every boy in school started challenging her, even ones that never liked her before. Forbidden fruit and all, I guess. She got so many challenges that eventually they just started to all attack her at once, rather than wait in line for their turn to duel."  
  
"Kuno sounds like a pretty smart guy," he commented, nodding appreciatively. A half a broken shinai spun just past his head to land harmlessly against the school wall.  
  
Nabiki almost fell to the ground laughing.  
  
"Wait-hehe-till you-haha-meet him," she stated, pulling herself back together and wiping a tear from her eye. "He may not be the sharpest tool in the-hehe-shed, but he does have a flair for the dramatic."  
  
Ranma waved her off and strode across the battle field confidently. "You dumbasses are pathetic!" he scoffed as he neared where Akane was just finishing the last of her opponents. Various students littered the area, groaning in pain from time to time.  
  
He sauntered over to Akane, who was still in a defensive stance, and tapped her on the shoulder softly. She quickly spun and tried to land a haymaker for the easy win.  
  
Ranma just deflected the punch with a casual flick of his hand, slapping at her wrist and breaking the momentum of the attack. He then snaked a leg out and gave a soft kick to the inside of her forefoot, causing her to tumble sideways and land clumsily due to the deflection of her first strike.  
  
"I just wanted to ask if you were finished yet," he stated in annoyance. "You're supposed to show me which class to go to."  
  
The student body present gasped as one, and murmurs quickly spread about the dashing stranger who had just defeated the strongest girl at Furinkan, and thereby, won her hand.  
  
"I SHALL NOT HAVE IT!!!" echoed an angry voice across the school yard.  
  
The wind rustled, and there was a flash of blue as Ranma pedaled backwards from a swift strike from a wooden sword that tore through the air towards him with a hiss. He came to a stop near the wall on the outskirts of the field and eyed his attacker warily.  
  
A boy, roughly Ranma's age with short brown hair stood with an angry scowl on his features, his bokken still extended from the failed strike. The boy wore a hakama and carried himself in an authorative manner.  
  
"What are you supposed to be?" asked the ponytailed fighter tersely.  
  
The boy who had attacked him straightened from his attack position, his scowl deepening. "I am he who shall smite thee, foul sorcerer!"  
  
"Sorcerer?" repeated Ranma in disbelief.  
  
"Surely you must have used some horrid magics to defeat my fierce tigress, in order to work some foul machinations against myself!" announced the strange boy surely.  
  
"What the fuck are you talking about? I'm not some kind of magician. Akane's just weak," scoffed Ranma derisively.  
  
"I'll not be dissuaded by your lies, evil one! For I, Tatewaki Kuno, rising new star of the high school kendo world, am above such base trickery!" Kuno took his standard pose with his bokken held towards the heavens, thunder cracked in the distance threateningly to accompany Kuno's declarations.  
  
"You need to cut that shit out before you-" Ranma tried to say, but Tatewaki would not be spoken to in such a manner.  
  
"Enough, foul mouthed wizard! I, The Great Blue Thunder, shall defeat you and free the beauteous Akane Tendo from your service!" Kuno lunged forth, bokken pulled back to skewer the insulting ponytailed fighter.  
  
Ranma allowed the boy to close some distance, and then sidestepped an overhead cleaving swing. He then struck out a foot, and tripped Kuno in a move similar to the one he'd just used on Akane.  
  
The kendoist's momentum carried him forward after the trip, and he skid along the damp grass to crash head first into a brick wall. He connected with a loud crunching, and lay still for moments.  
  
Once more, gasps and murmurs spread.  
  
Ranma ignored the distractions and shot an appraising look to the fallen boy, trying to gauge his abilities. "Feh. He can take it. I don't have time for this shit," he scoffed as he turned and walked calmly into the building.  
  
Akane could only stand mouth agape at what had just transpired. Had Ranma really beaten both AND Kuno consecutively? But... they were the best fighters in Nerima...  
  
Nabiki stifled a smirk as she watched the scene wind down. She then walked into the school, wondering just what might happen next.  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
"Who is he!?!" demanded an all too familiar voice.  
  
Nabiki looked up from her manga to see Kuno standing over her desk, fuming. He'd already slapped down an envelope that she figured contained her standard fee for this kind of information.  
  
She reached forward and grabbed the payment, stuffing it carefully into her bag for safe keeping. "His name is Ranma Saotome, heir to sister school of my family style."  
  
Kuno nodded and motioned with his hands for her to continue. She responded with a motion of her own, this one of the 'gimme, gimme' variety. Kuno frowned, but slapped another stack of yen notes in front of her.  
  
"His father trained with my father some years ago, and they made a pact to unite our schools," she said as she looked down to stow away the second payoff in another pocket of her bag. "As such, he is now engaged to my sister Kasumi..." She turned back to regard Kuno once more, only to find him gone. Obviously he'd come to the conclusion as to which Tendo girl Ranma was engaged to on his own.  
  
She could hear the sound of splintering wood from down the hall, in the direction of Ranma and Akane's classroom.  
  
  
"What the hell is your malfunction!?!" commanded a voice she quickly recognized as Ranma's.  
  
She sighed tiredly, and got up to see if she could help resolve the situation. Kasumi wouldn't be too happy if her boyfriend beat another student into a coma.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
"If you add these two vectors together and-"The math teacher's lecturing ceased as a loud snoring became the prevalent sound of the room.  
  
The teacher quickly grabbed an eraser from the board and hurled it to the napping Saotome. It never hit it's target however, as Ranma slumped forward to rest his head on the desk, allowing the projectile to soar over his head to smack the student directly behind him.  
  
"Hey!" cried Akane as she rubbed at her forehead in irritation.  
  
"I'm sorry Ms. Tendo!" apologized the teacher, "but would you mind waking Mr. Saotome?"  
  
"No problem," she answered with a malicious grin. Taking hold of her desk, she stood and reared back, intending to smash the item right over Ranma's head.  
  
The teacher realized quickly what was about to happen. "Akane! That's not what I-"  
  
Ranma suddenly sat up, staring suspiciously at the door.  
  
Ranma's abrupt movement had startled her, throwing off her balance. "Hey!" protested Akane as she fell backwards, the desk above her head clattering to the ground behind her loudly.  
  
The door exploded inward as Tatewaki Kuno burst into the room, his bokken held tightly and an enraged glare on his face.  
  
"What the hell is your malfunction!?!" demanded Ranma as he flipped up from his seated position to avoid a wicked slash from Kuno's weapon.  
  
The teacher sighed involuntarily and followed the throng of students escaping from the battle zone. It really was best to let the students work out their own problems.  
  
"Well isn't this a pretty sight?" commented Nabiki as she wandered into the classroom to survey the damage. Most of the desks had already been smashed or sliced up, and the entire class had been emptied save for Ranma, Kuno, and Akane who appeared to be trying to beat on both of the boys in tandem.  
  
She took a deep breath and stepped in, hopefully if she stopped the fight quickly Ranma and Akane might not be held too responsible for damages.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
"You sure seem to like it up here, Ranma," commented Kasumi as she walked over to the edge of the roof that the boy lounged on.  
  
"I like being alone when I want to think," he said offhandedly.  
  
"Oh," she said sadly and turned to leave. "I'll leave you to your thoughts then."  
  
Ranma sat up quickly. "Ah! No no no! You can stay! I can be alone with you here-damn it I mean-"  
  
Kasumi giggled softly at his attempts to convey his objections. "It's okay Ranma. I know what you mean." She walked over and took a seat next to the boy, stretching out contentedly under the still bright sun. "I take it you had a bad day?"  
  
Ranma sighed and laid back down. "Yeah. This idiot named Kuno who has a crush on Akane attacked me today."  
  
"Oh my! You didn't hurt him too badly did you?" asked Kasumi in concern, holding a hand to her mouth.  
  
"Nah," replied Ranma with a roguish grin.  
  
She gave his an appraising look. "Okay. But why did he attack you?"  
  
"Apparently your other sister told him about the engagement, and he thought I was engaged to the girl he liked, so he went and tried to put me out of his misery."  
  
"I'll have to talk to Nabiki later," said Kasumi with a slight frown.  
  
"No, that's okay. She helped me work it out with the idiot. Now he's only attacking me 'cause I beat him stupid," he said with a wide grin.  
  
Kasumi smiled and shook her head amusedly. "Oh well. Try and take it easy on him Ranma."  
  
"Yes ma'am," he quipped with a mock salute.  
  
Kasumi just rolled her eyes in response. "So, aside from these fights, how was your first day of study?"  
  
Ranma groaned painfully. "It sucked."  
  
"That bad?" she questioned sympathetically.  
  
"I understand most of what they're saying," he stated with a sigh. "But it gets boring after awhile, and I start nodding off."  
  
"So you're not that far behind?" asked Kasumi hopefully.  
  
"Nah," replied Ranma, shaking his head. "Science and math I have some trouble with. But as far as P.E., and languages I'm pretty good."  
  
"What about history?" she continued, quite interested in what subjects he would do well in.  
  
"When we would stay in temples and monasteries, me and Lucied would do chores and stuff to pay our way. Writing was one of the things my mom and Lucied used to stress as important to my travels, so I would sometimes make manuscripts of scrolls and books." he scratched at his temple and grinned pridefully. "You'd be surprised what you could learn about history from those things."  
  
Kasumi looked at him askance. "Lucied and your mother?"  
  
"Before she died, mom was tutoring me on stuff. And Lucied taught me things useful for traveling," he explained, a smile making it's way to his lips. "Mom was always telling me, 'A true man must be well versed in arts other than those of the martial variety.'"  
  
Ranma's imitation of a stern, motherly tone elicited a giggle from Kasumi. "That's wonderful," she said, impressed by the things he'd picked up from adventuring.  
  
They continued to lie there, simply enjoying the warmth of the sun and each other's presence. A sudden westerly wind swept across the roof, causing Ranma's hair to billow into Kasumi's face, tickling her nose.  
  
Ranma turned his head at the sound of the girl's sneezing giggles. He quickly brushed the errant hair from her face, and retied his ponytail. "Sorry."  
  
"That's okay," she said. "But maybe you should do something with your hair."  
  
Ranma just shook his head. "I am not cutting it."  
  
"I never asked you too," replied, rolling her eyes. "But maybe you should put it up differently."  
  
"Like how?" he asked, as played subconsciously with his hair.  
  
"I don't know," she answered, giving a sigh and a shrug.  
  
They lounged a while more, again enjoying the warm sunny day.  
  
Ranma toyed idly with his hair as he let his attention fall onto the brilliant hues of the setting sun. Watching things like this always did have a calming effect on him.  
  
"A pigtail," spoke Kasumi out of nowhere.  
  
"A what?" Ranma asked, snapping from his lazy stupor.  
  
"A pigtail. You would look so cute with one," she repeated with a giggle.  
  
Ranma turned away, hoping to hide the color in his cheeks.  
  
"A pigtail huh?" he thought to himself.  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Nabiki sat at her desk, putting the last of her homework away into her book bag.  
  
With a resigned sigh, she tossed the bag carelessly next to her dresser and slumped down into her chair. This had been an odd day to say the least.  
  
First there had been Akane's defeat by Ranma, and subsequently, Kuno's first failed attempt to lay his own brand of justice on the ponytailed boy.  
  
Then there had been that misunderstanding about which Tendo girl Ranma had been promised to. It had all been sorted out eventually, but not until after a few beatings and some willful destruction of public property.  
  
Nabiki got up from her chair and hopped onto her bed, stretching out lazily and staring at the ceiling. Her mind rarely drifted, and when she allowed it to, it was usually to flesh out some strange notions that she couldn't quite fathom consciously.  
  
This night her mind found that the relationship between Kasumi and Ranma was something that warranted that.  
  
She had personal opinion about the boy, other than he was remarkably arrogant, but his somewhat limited, though keen, intelligence warranted a deal respect. He had a type of street smarts that Nabiki respected, and even envied a little.  
  
Then there was the effect he had on her older sister.  
  
After she'd had some time to think to herself, she began to recall a few memories about when she was a child. Of how hard Kasumi worked, and how hollow her eyes looked despite the love that shone on her face. It was unsettling to even have the memory of such a face on someone so young. It was like that of some finely crafted doll. Beautiful, yet not truly so.  
  
Then she began to remember those few weeks during that summer that Kasumi had mad a "friend" which she'd taken to visiting regularly. During that time, despite her being so young, she could recall how the look on the girl's face turned from that of a hollow body, to one filled with life and purpose.  
  
And then came the day that the game ended.  
  
She could recall clearly how she and Akane had been in the kitchen, hoping to snatch a few cookies while Kasumi's back was turned, and hearing their father stop her on the way out. The baked goods forgotten, the two snuck into the hall, and listened to the brief tale of how Kasumi's friend was in fact a boy rurouni she'd met in the park.  
  
Her father had forbid any more contact between them, and arranged for the boy to be taken care of.  
  
Kasumi had been understandably grief stricken, and for a number of weeks she'd refused to so much as leave her room, only eating what her sister's brought out of worry for the girl's health.  
  
Soon enough though, Kasumi's sense of duty returned, and with it some of her strength. She was no longer the vibrant young girl of only a matter of weeks before, but neither was she sullen, empty child she'd been before those few visits to the park.  
  
Kasumi was always a cheery person. She helped the elderly carry heavy bags when she went to the store. She cared for stray animals she found hurt, and then found homes for them once they were better. Once there had been an earthquake in the city, and Kasumi had managed to immediately organize all the school's clubs to volunteer as relief workers, despite the fact that she didn't belong to any of them.  
  
She was always smiling, so polite and well mannered. Who would have guessed she was the kind of girl that went for 'bad boys?'  
  
"Nabiki! Dinner is ready!" sounded a cry from downstairs.  
  
"Okay sis!" she hollered back. Nabiki sat up and fluffed the mussed strands of her hair back into place.  
  
Ranma may not be the first person Nabiki would have foreseen her sister being with, but as long as he made her happy, he was alright in her book.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
Lucied stared aimlessly into the koi pond, watching the tiny fish while away their lives swimming about a pool that lead nowhere. He'd never really liked fish, they had far too little drive and desire for his tastes, but he had little else to do other than stare at the brightly colored simpletons.  
  
Ranma had started his schooling only a week ago, but that week just seemed to drag on forever.  
  
The Guardian sat on his haunches, and briefly wondered just how Schtudark managed to be around such vapid little things for any extended period of time.  
  
  
"What are you doing?" asked Kasumi as he walked up to the bored wolf. In her arms she carried a basket loaded with wet clothing.  
  
"Fish," was the muttered answer. Lucied shook his head and turned to look at the girl. "Sorry. Little buggers distracted me for a moment. Did you need something?"  
  
"No," answered Kasumi. "I just came out to hang up some laundry, saw you here, and decided to ask what you were doing."  
  
"Ah. Do you want some help?" he asked a little eagerly.  
  
Kasumi looked up thoughtfully before answering. "Not really."  
  
"Okay then," he sighed, turning back to stare into the water.  
  
"You seem bored," said Kasumi while she walked over to the line and began to hang the damp laundry.  
  
"How could you tell?" the wolf quipped good naturedly.  
  
  
"Well if you're so bored, why don't you go for a walk around town?" she replied helpfully.  
  
Lucied looked up, wondering if he'd heard right. Why hadn't he thought of that?  
  
"You'll have to of course be in your disguised form," was quickly added.  
  
The Guardian sighed, that's why he hadn't.  
  
"I don't like being in that form," he groused, settling back down onto the grass. He stood after a few more moments, "But I hate being bored even more. I'll see you later then, Kasumi."  
  
She stopped her chore for a moment and pursed her lips in thought as something occurred to her. She added as a parting, "And I don't want you to be distracting Ranma from his studies."  
  
"Fine," he replied, shifting his form into that of a coyote instead of a more domestic canine, just as a change of pace.  
  
Kasumi returned to her chore, humming to herself happily. A thought crossed her mind, causing her to stop and turn around, hoping that Lucied was still in the yard.  
  
"Darn," she said to herself. "I guess I'll have to take that book back to Dr. Tofu myself."  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
"Come back here!" cried the stout man in the bright white jumper.  
  
Lucied jogged lazily, but still able to easily outpace the pudgy human hot on his heels. He turned a corner sharply and leapt onto the wall of a nearby home. The man turned the corner and skidded to a halt, scratching his head in befuddlement as his quarry seemed to disappear.  
  
The dogcatcher turned walked back to his truck, mumbling in anger and confusion.  
  
From his elevated perch, Lucied watched his pursuer give up the chase, and dropped back to the ground with a growl.  
  
"Stupid humans," he muttered angrily. "I, the Guardian of Desire itself, having to flee from some pathetic dogcatcher." Sometimes Lucied missed the good old days, back when he had free reign of any town or village he wanted. Too bad his kind weren't worshipped anymore.  
  
Lucied snorted ruefully and continued on his exploration of the town.  
  
There had been little to do, other than watch humans go about their own days. It had been interesting to watch the small ones play in the park. They had little in the way of desire, but they did exude a number of other emotions that he was familiar with from his fellow Guardians.  
  
Lucied continued on, not really paying any attention to his surroundings any more than was necessary to avoid surprise attacks, when he found himself standing outside the gate of Furinkan High.  
  
He poked his head inside, and noting that it was lunch time, and could see Ranma sitting alone beneath a tree tucked away behind some bushes, eating his meal in solitude. Lucied, being what he was, could feel that Ranma was just as bored as he was.  
  
Kasumi had said not to distract Ranma from his studies, but she didn't say anything about visiting him when he wasn't studying.  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Ranma sat alone, eating his lunch and mulling over his day.  
  
It was turning out to the same as it had been all week. He'd wake up, get ready, eat, say goodbye to Kasumi, fight Kuno, sleep, fight Kuno, study, fight Kuno, then eat again.  
  
He sighed tiredly. That Tatewaki Kuno may have been a total putz, but he was persistent.  
  
Akane's fan club at least got the idea that he was not someone to trifle with. After he'd tripped Akane that first day, all her fan club had decided that it might be a good idea to try and prove themselves to her by beating him up.  
  
It was a doomed plan to begin with, and after the first three days, they'd quit their morning routine all together.  
  
A leaf floated slowly from the tree over his head, gently falling onto the back of his neck. He reached up and brushed it off lazily, stopping for a moment to play idly with his new pigtail.  
  
"Hello," greeted someone just out of his field of vision, though the voice was familiar.  
  
"Yo Lucied," responded Ranma reflexively. He did a double take and looked the dog straight in the eyes. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Got bored and decided to go for a walk," Lucied replied, giving one of his wolf shrugs. "I saw you sitting here and decided to say hi."  
  
"You shouldn't be saying anything in public, period," deadpanned Ranma. "I'd kind of like to stay here for a while before we get run out of town by a torch wielding mob, out for your blood."  
  
"Bah!" he scoffed. "Let them come!" So saying, Lucied dropped his disguise in a show of contempt.  
  
A startled cry accompanied Lucied's transformation. "Zounds!"  
  
"Zounds?" muttered Ranma, turning to the face the only person he knew that would say the word 'zounds.'  
  
"Surely this must be proof that thou art in league with demons!" pronounced a startled Kuno.  
  
"This isn't what it looks like Kuno-" he started to explain, only to be cut short.  
  
"Silence sorcerer!" demanded Kuno as he raised his bokken menacingly. "I, the great Blue Thunder shall defeat you!" roared Kuno as he leapt to the attack with righteous fury.  
  
Ranma placed his hands on the ground firmly, swinging into a handstand and pushing himself up and away from Kuno's slash. The attack from the boy's bokken easily cut a deep groove in the tree Ranma had been eating under.  
  
Kuno continued his swinging, trying to nail a clean hit on his foe.  
  
The attack was short lived, finally stopping when Ranma stepped into Kuno's defenses and planted a fist deep into the kendoist's gut.  
  
Lucied simply shook his head sadly, and walked over to Kuno's splayed form once Ranma had dispatched of the boy. "You must be Tatewaki Kuno," reasoned Lucied.  
  
"I... Fight on..." mumbled Kuno, reaching with his hands pathetically to grapple the strange 'demon.'  
  
"I'm sure you do," said Lucied in a patronizing tone. "But allow me introduce myself. I am Lucied, Guardian of Desire, and protector of the great Mother Earth."  
  
Ranma quirked an eyebrow. 'Protector of the great Mother Earth?'  
  
Kuno sat up, his injuries forgotten. "Truly!?!"  
  
"Indeed," replied Lucied with a stoic nod.  
  
"No doubt you have heard of my great deeds, and wish to grant thy blessings upon my person!" proclaimed Kuno as he stood and posed proudly, pointing to the heavens dramatically.  
  
"Not particularly," drawled the Guardian, looking to his partner and receiving a sly smirk as his only support. "I am simply visiting my friend Ranma."  
  
"Thou art companions with the sorcerer!?!" asked Kuno disbelievingly.  
  
Lucied looked to Ranma again, and once again received nothing more than a shrug. "Ranma's not a sorcerer. He's just a martial art-" Lucied cut himself off as a plan formed in his mind. "-I mean he's my avatar. A protector."  
  
Tatewaki's eyes narrowed in confusion. "How can this be? How can the likes of he, be worthy of such an honor?"  
  
"He's not as bad as all that," said the wolf with a chuckle.  
  
Kuno scratched at his chin thoughtfully, contemplating his next move. After a moment he nodded sagely and said, "Very well great spirit. I shall cease my crusade of vengeance against thy avatar."  
  
Lucied's lip curled into a smirk. "That's very kind of you."  
  
The kendoist stood and gathered himself. After retrieving his weapon from a nearby bush, he turned and bowed respectively to Lucied, and gave a curt nod to Ranma before walking back to the main building.  
  
"What was all that about?" ventured Ranma after some few moments of silence.  
  
"What?" replied the wolf, innocently.  
  
"Don't 'what' me. What was all this 'protector of the great Mother Earth,' and 'avatar' stuff all about?" Ranma asked in an annoyed tone.  
  
"I decided to help you out a little. I know how to talk to these kinds of idiots," said Lucied, nonchalantly.  
  
"And how, may I ask?" Ranma quirked an eyebrow in anticipation. This would be good.  
  
"One of the other Guardians used to talk like that," replied the wolf simply. "The idiot used to get on my nerves, and I had to learn to play on his ego and self righteous nature to get him to shut up."  
  
Ranma scratched at his temple. "One of these days I have to meet these other Guardians," he said.  
  
"Maybe one day," replied Lucied. "Maybe."  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Physical Education. A class that Ranma may have enjoyed were he not the physical superior to every single person in his class.  
  
Too bad Lucied had to go back home once the bell had rung. But it was the last period, so he'd be able to leave soon enough.  
  
He frowned as he watched the others go about their games. The boy's class was on the black top playing basketball, while the girls played softball close by.  
  
It was all so very tedious. Come to class, dress out, dazzle the coach, and then waste the next forty-five minutes on nothing in particular.  
  
It was days like this that made Ranma wish he'd taken up being a pervert as a hobby. At least then he could enjoy watching the girls in their little shorts.  
  
Ranma tensed as he felt people nearing him, but relaxed as he felt their pathetic fighting potentials. "Hey, your name's Ranma right?"  
  
The pigtailed boy looked up from his silent meditations to see who had addressed him. "Yeah, that's me."  
  
The boy was a little shorter than Ranma was, and had short brown hair. He was accompanied by another boy that was of similar build, this one with black hair though. After some thought Ranma realized that they were both boys from his class.  
  
"Nice 'ta meet ya," said Brown Hair. "My name is Hiroshi."  
  
"And I'm Daisuke," stated the other one.  
  
After their introductions the two made themselves comfortable on the grassy hill next to Ranma.  
  
"So I here you live in the same house as Akane?" pried Daisuke.  
  
"Yeah. What of it?" he asked tersely.  
  
"Man, she is so cute," said Hiroshi.  
  
"Not really," Ranma quickly replied.  
  
Hiroshi smacked his fist into his palm. "That's right! You're engaged to her older sister!"  
  
Daisuke looked at Ranma wide eyed. "You're engaged to Nabiki!?!"  
  
"Not Nabiki," responded Ranma with a snort. "Kasumi. And it was our parent's idea."  
  
Daisuke blinked. "Kasumi? Whoa man."  
  
Hiroshi nodded appreciatively. "She was in my brother's graduation class. I've seen pictures of her. She's a real looker."  
  
Ranma's eye twitched slightly, but the other two didn't notice.  
  
"Dude, you lucked out," said Hiroshi, a lecherous gleam in his eye.  
  
"No doubt," seconded his cohort, the same perversion seeping into his mannerisms. "I mean Akane's cute, but Kasumi!"  
  
Ranma turned to face them, a cold sneer on his face. The boys froze, Ranma's icy gaze causing their lecherous babbling to cease in their throats.  
  
"Be careful how you talk about her," Ranma said in a cold, frightening voice.  
  
"Y-yeah, man. S-sorry," they stuttered in unison, nodding their heads violently.  
  
"Look out!" cried a female voice.  
  
Before the warning had even been finished, Ranma's hand suddenly shot up, stopping an errant softball mere inches from his face. He looked at the offending thing a moment, before looking to where it had come from.  
  
"Care to give that back?" asked Akane as she walked up the hill, softball bat still held loosely in her hand.  
  
  
"Here," he replied. With a casual flick he tossed the ball back to the girl. "Be careful, you could have hurt someone."  
  
Akane frowned in annoyance. "I wasn't trying to hit someone on purpose."  
  
"No, you just lack the control to even play a simple game properly," he stated truthfully, his face betraying no emotion.  
  
"What did you say!?!" Akane scowled angrily and threw the bat and ball to the ground. She held her fist to her sides tightly, just waiting for Ranma to say something else insulting.  
  
"You don't have to get angry. I'm just saying you need to work on your coordination."  
  
"Why you sonuva-" before she could say something that Ranma might make her regret, the bell rang, signaling the end of the day's classes.  
  
"All right girls!" cried the girl's coach from beneath the awning near the lockers. "Time to come in!"  
  
"I'll deal with you later," sneered Akane. She turned on her heels to stalk back into the locker rooms, totally forgetting the ball and bat she'd dropped on the ground.  
  
Everyone who was watching the confrontation winced in sympathy as the angry girl planted face first into the grass. She had slipped on the ball and tried to regain her balance, but her attempts were fouled up the bat. She pushed herself up quickly and wiped the mud and blades of grass from her face.  
  
Ranma knelt down next to her and took a short look at her face. "Damn," he commented after a few moments of inspection. "Looks like you cut yourself."  
  
Akane blinked and reached up to her left cheek. Sure enough, the sharp pain she was feeling was a bleeding wound. Running a hand through the grass she found a sharp stone that seemed the cause of her injury.  
  
"Doesn't look too deep. Let me have a look." Ranma reached down to pull her face closer, only to have his hand slapped away.  
  
"I don't think so Cave Boy," drolled Akane. "I'm going to go see a real doctor." So saying, she bunched the sleeve of her shirt in one hand and pressed it tightly against her wound.  
  
Ranma noticed that she was also limping a little, favoring one leg, but trying to not look too conspicuous. He could only shake his head. "That girl has problems," he thought to himself.  
  
  
+++++++++++++++++  
  
  
Ranma looked up at the clock on the wall frowned. He should have already been home by now. He'd fallen asleep in math class again and had been instructed to see the teacher in the lounge after school.  
  
He'd expected something along the lines of detention, not extra homework. This whole school thing rubbed him the wrong way. First chance he got, he'd find a way to get out of this mess.  
  
He looked back to his teacher, a wholly unremarkable man with glasses and a poorly concealed comb over, as he was addressed. "Alright then Mr. Saotome. Do you understand what you're supposed to do?"  
  
"Yeah. I got it. One hundred through one-fifty on page four sixty seven," he responded in exasperation.  
  
"That is correct. You may go now," said the teacher, nodding in approval.  
  
Ranma wasted no time as he gathered up his few supplies and stalked out the door quickly.  
  
  
Once outside of the confining building, he slumped forward and thrust his hands into his pockets, the book bag secured to his sash.  
  
At least the day was over, and he'd be able to get some good food.  
  
His mind wandered as he made his way back to the dojo, and brought up the memory of Akane's fall from only a few minutes ago.  
  
A smirk found its way to his lips. Akane had been too stupid to ask for help, and had gone off to see some kind of family doctor or something. Ranma had decided that if she didn't ask for help, she wouldn't get it, and left the situation at that.  
  
Nabiki, as she often did, had immediately gone home after the bell had rung. Most likely to count the day's takings he figured.  
  
Nabiki was alright by his standards, even though she tried every once in a while to trick him into something. He was comfortable with her type though, having met enough of them over the years.  
  
He'd found out quickly why she'd earned the name Ice Queen around the school. Earlier in the week he'd seen her having a private conversation with one of her teachers behind the main building.  
  
Normally he'd just ignore the situation, but this time he'd decided to stick around, just to see what was going on.  
  
From what he'd been able to gather, the teacher owed Nabiki some money, and refused to pay it, saying that if she didn't clear his debt, he'd personally make sure she failed the year. Nabiki was in every way the Ice Queen though, and rather than be intimidated by the older man, she stayed level headed and turned the tables in her favor.  
  
She'd told him that if he even thought about trying to pull a stunt like that, she'd have no choice but to show the District School Board, "the photos." She'd intentionally been vague about what type of photos they were, and it worked.  
  
The man had become nervous, asking questions as to what kind of pictures they were. When he was done, he'd revealed in his questions themselves, enough secrets and scandals to blackmail him for years.  
  
Nabiki had later told Ranma that she'd seen him watching the conversation. When he'd asked about the photos, she'd just grinned and said, "What photos? I don't have any photos."  
  
Funny thing is, she was probably telling the truth about that one. That was the kind of cunning that Ranma respected.  
  
As he turned the corner that would lead him back to the dojo, Ranma saw a sign just a little down the street that read, 'Tofu Ono, Chiropractor, Acupuncture, Massage.'  
  
He stopped for a moment to scratch his head in thought. Akane had mentioned something about a Tofu.  
  
Suddenly it hit him. Tofu was the name of the doctor that Akane had said she was going to go see.  
  
He shrugged indifferently and started walking again, but after a second thought he hesitated.  
  
Kasumi had asked him to make an effort to be nice. And it wouldn't take much to drop in on her and ask how she was doing.  
  
He smirked. Something so easy would no doubt earn him some Brownie points. He might even get extra helpings at dinner out of the deal.  
  
His mind made up, Ranma turned and made his way to the small neighborhood practice.  
  
It was small, really more like a corner store than any sort of clinic. He walked up to the large glass door, and swung it open easily, chiming some bells that had been set on the handle to alert the doctor of new patients.  
  
Once Ranma was inside what he guessed to be the waiting room, a man with glasses and a dark gi stuck his head around the corner from a hallway that looked to run into the examination rooms.  
  
"May I help you?" asked the man.  
  
"Is Akane here?" questioned Ranma as he picked up a magazine from the coffee table next to the door.  
  
The man looked at Ranma warmly and replied, "Yes. Are you a friend of hers?"  
  
Ranma dropped the book and scratched at the back of his pigtail, trying to think of what to say. "Uh... Something like that..."  
  
If the man had thought something odd of Ranma's hesitation he showed nothing of it. "Well if you want you can come on back. I was just finishing up her treatment."  
  
Ranma just shrugged and followed the slightly taller man to the examination room.  
  
"What is your name anyways?" asked the doctor.  
  
"I'm Ranma." He raised an eyebrow questioningly. "You're Doc Tofu?"  
  
The ponytailed doctor chuckled lightly at the informal title. "Yes. I'm Tofu Ono, and this is my clinic."  
  
"Nice place," Ranma complimented.  
  
"Thank you," replied Tofu, stepping aside to allow Ranma into the room first.  
  
Before the conversation could go any further, there was a shout as they entered the room Akane sat in.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she questioned tersely.  
  
"Just dropped by to see how you were doing," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
"It's your fault that I'm in here!" she protested.  
  
"His fault?" interrupted Tofu. "I thought you said you tripped."  
  
Akane blushed and began to stutter. "Ah... well... you see..."  
  
"She tripped on a baseball she dropped on the ground," Ranma pointed out with a snort, causing Akane to glare at him hatefully.  
  
The doctor just looked between the two teens, and began to laugh good naturedly.  
  
"That's quite alright. There's no need to be embarrassed. If you two are having romantic problems, it'll work out," he said, finishing the bandaging on Akane's ankle.  
  
Akane and Ranma both choked on air as their minds came to grips with what the man had said.  
  
The shrill whistle of a teapot from the kitchen down the hall cut short any protests from the teens. "I'll be back in a moment."  
  
Akane just blushed furiously. How could Doctor Tofu have made such a mistake? He was a worldly and wise man, he should have known better than to think she would be attracted to such an immature boy.  
  
"Man, have you got it bad," he said with a shake of his head.  
  
"What are you talking about?" she snapped to Ranma.  
  
"Your crush on that Tofu guy." Ranma thumbed towards the hall where the doctor had just left.  
  
Akane crossed her arms over her chest and glared angrily. "It's none of your business what kind of relationship we have. And he's Doctor Tofu, not 'that Tofu guy'."  
  
"Now where have I heard that before?" drolled Ranma, totally ignoring Akane's last comment.  
  
Akane turned up the glare momentarily, but soon the look faded in intensity before disappearing all together.  
  
"It doesn't matter," she muttered dejectedly.  
  
Ranma cocked his head at the girl's sullen pouting. "Why's that?"  
  
"There's someone he likes. I know he'll never like me that way," Akane bit her lip in an attempt to hold back her tears, not wanting to be made fun of for being a cry baby.  
  
"And who might this mystery woman be?" asked Ranma curiously  
  
Akane suddenly went wide eyed, as though she'd just come to some shocking realization. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the ringing of the phone.  
  
"Would one of you please get that for me?" called Tofu from the kitchen.  
  
Akane stood and walked to the phone as quickly as her bandaged ankle would allow.  
  
"Doctor Tofu's clinic, this is Akane, how may I-... Oh, hello... No, I just fell at school and sprained my ankle a little, I'm okay... Okay then... Goodbye" Once she replaced the headset in it's cradle, she grabbed her bag and made her way steadily towards the front door without word.  
  
Ranma got up and followed after, wondering just who had been on the other end of that line.  
  
"Who was that?" he asked.  
  
She stopped in her tracks, and stayed facing from him for a few more seconds before turning around. "Remember I said there was someone he liked? That was her on the phone. She's coming over."  
  
The chiming of the bells on the door alerted them to another entering the building.  
  
"That must be her. That was fast," Ranma commented as he walked briskly past the girl, and head out to the lobby hoping to catch a glimpse of this mystery woman.  
  
"Ranma! Don't go-" she tried to warn.  
  
"I gotta say this Tofu is one sick bastard!" commented Ranma in disgust.  
  
Akane blinked. That wasn't the reaction she was thinking of. She hobbled into the lobby, only to find Ranma staring down in confused disgust at a wrinkled old woman with a cane.  
  
She made her way over and reared back a hand. "That's not her, you idiot!"  
  
Ranma leaned sideways and stuck out his hip, bumping into Akane's leg and making her over extend herself. Unable to manage the sudden shift in her weight on a sprained ankle, she went down, clutching her injury and baring her teeth in anger and pain.  
  
"Sorry. Reflex," stated Ranma simply.  
  
The old woman'd had the sense to shuffle out of the building after seeing the tension in the room.  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
"You have to be more careful Ranma," Tofu lectured sternly. "You can't be treating injured people the way you did. It's very irresponsible."  
  
"Injured people should act like injured people," retorted the pigtailed boy hotly.  
  
Tofu scowled deeply. "How can you be so callous to your own girlfriend, even if it was an accident."  
  
"We're not a couple," they protested in tandem. Akane was seated back on the bed, Tofu having tightened her bandages, the doctor by her side, and Ranma perched on the back of a chair a few feet away.  
  
"Whatever the case. You two should be more careful. I'm very disappointed by your carelessness," admonished the doctor, taking a moment to clean his glasses with a piece of cloth from his gi.  
  
Akane winced from having been told that the doctor was disappointed in her. Ranma's reaction was decidedly different.  
  
"What do I care what you think of me? I've no need to impress you in any way," he replied hotly.  
  
"What was that?" asked the older man as he perked his ears.  
  
Before Ranma could answer, the entrance bells rang.  
  
"Hello? Is anyone here?" asked someone from the entrance.  
  
Ranma hopped off the chair and stared in the direction of the lobby. "Is that Kasumi?"  
  
Akane went wide eyed and started to fidget nervously.  
  
Tofu went stiff as a board, his glasses fogged and his face reddened.  
  
Kasumi stepped into the room, a basket in her hand and Lucied at her side.  
  
"Hello everyone," greeted Kasumi.  
  
"H-h-h-hello K-K-Kasumi," stuttered the lovesick doctor.  
  
Kasumi smiled brightly and reached into the basket. "Hello doctor. I've brought back the book you lent me."  
  
"T-thank you, Kasumi." He took the book and walked across the room to deposit it inside a fishbowl.  
  
"I also brought you this," she added, producing a plate covered by a handkerchief from the basket.  
  
"Ah! It's a perfect fit!" crowed the man. He'd taken the plate and removed the kerchief so he could tie it around his face.  
  
"It's not a mask silly, it's a cover for the cookies," said Kasumi with a smile. Doctor Tofu always did such funny things.   
  
Ranma could only stand by and watch as the man continued to make a monumental ass of himself.  
  
"I wonder what's wrong with him," he muttered quietly. He looked to Lucied, and received alike wise confused look. Akane however gave him a slightly sad, sympathetic look.  
  
"Now she's acting funny," he thought. He started trying to sort through what was going on. Akane was probably sad because that girl Tofu liked was coming over. Though that didn't explain why the doctor had suddenly gone...  
  
"What a beautiful animal!" crowed Tofu as he reached down to scratch Lucied behind the ears, only to pull back his hand at the sound of the angry growl emitted from deep in the animal's throat.  
  
Lucied would normally be very annoyed with someone trying to pet him, but he suddenly found himself disliking this person in particular because of something Ranma was feeling.  
  
"Lucied. Be nice," chastised Kasumi.  
  
The Guardian twitched, but held himself in check at Kasumi's request.  
  
Akane stood and hobbled her way out. "I need to get home to do some homework," she told her sister and Tofu.  
  
"I'll walk you home," said Kasumi. "Thank you again for lending me the book, Doctor Tofu. I'll see you at home, Ranma."  
  
"Of course! Any time!" called the man as he waved the girls and their pet off.  
  
With the object of his nervousness gone, he was able to calm considerably. He removed his glasses, and wiped the moisture from the lenses.  
  
"I'm such a fool," he mumbled sadly.  
  
"Got that one right," seconded someone from behind him.  
  
Tofu turned to regard Ranma, having just noticed that he'd stayed behind. "What was that?"  
  
Ranma strolled over towards where Tofu stood, taking his time with long, slow strides.  
  
"Kasumi's a very nice girl wouldn't you say? Pretty, smart, a good fighter, and kind. A great catch," he hinted with a tone as calm and even as his steps.  
  
"Yes. I suppose. But I don't see-" started Tofu.  
  
"There's something else she is, you know," interrupted Ranma.  
  
Tofu cocked his head curiously and raised an eyebrow. "And what might that be?"  
  
Ranma closed the gap between them, stopping so he was standing shoulder to shoulder with the slightly taller man. "Engaged."  
  
Tofu reared back like he was slapped. His legs failed him and he fell back onto the counter on the wall, supporting himself with his arms. "What are you saying? It's a lie!"  
  
Ranma turned his back and head out in the hall. "No lie. I'm her fiancée, and you better not even think about touching her, or I'll kill you." He stopped just before stepping around the corner and gave the shell shocked man one last glance. "You're to old for her anyway. You should be ashamed you pervert. Find a woman your own age." With that, Ranma left.  
  
Tofu couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Kasumi engaged? Engaged to that rude, ill mannered boy?  
  
He'd missed his chance?  
  
The man dropped to the ground, unable to manage the burden of standing.  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Ranma opened his window quietly, trying not to wake anyone in the house. Lucied was curled up on the spare futon, sleeping soundly.  
  
Ranma shook his head. Lucied really didn't need to sleep, just like he didn't really need to eat, but he did so as a recreational activity.  
  
He reached up and grabbed hold of the window frame, and pulled himself up silently. He flipped neatly and landed on the roof in a relaxed crouch,  
  
"Boo!" startled something directly behind him.  
  
Ranma spun quickly to see Kasumi standing behind him in her pink night robe. He frowned slightly at how easily she'd managed to get the drop on him.  
  
"What are you doing up here?" he asked confusedly.  
  
"I couldn't sleep," she replied as she pulled her robe a little tighter against the night's chill. "I thought I might do like you and sit up here a while. You couldn't sleep either?"  
  
"Nah," he answered as he took a seat a few feet away from the edge.  
  
Kasumi couldn't help but smile when he turned his back to her. His pigtail was just too cute.  
  
She went over to sit with him. "What's on your mind?"  
  
"Nothing," he said with a shrug.  
  
"Come now, you wouldn't be kept up by 'nothing.' I know how you are."  
  
He hung his head and sighed tiredly. "I think I'm getting used to being, 'settled down.'" He grimaced slightly at the last part.  
  
Kasumi cocked her head and put a finger to her lip. "Is that a bad thing?"  
  
He cleared his throat and looked away from the cute look she was giving him. "Not a bad thing. Just... different."  
  
"Well, you'll just have to get used to it. I like having you around," she said with a grin, giving him a playful punch in the arm.  
  
"I'm so very glad I can amuse you," he replied sarcastically.  
  
She chuckled quietly; it was after all late in the night.  
  
"So what else is it?" she pressed, earning a slightly nervous look from Ranma.  
  
"Ah, well... I met someone today that I didn't particularly like," he admitted.  
  
"Who?" asked Kasumi in fascination.  
  
"Er... No one... Just, some guy," he replied, trying to skirt around the issue.  
  
Kasumi decided to not press any farther, since the subject seemed to make him uncomfortable.  
  
"Don't worry, Ranma. There's always tomorrow," Kasumi stated in a sing-song voice.  
  
"What?" he asked, confused by the statement.  
  
"If you try, you can make each day better than the last. Tomorrow will be another day no matter how bad today is." A far away, serene gleam made its way into her bright shining eyes. Her form was silhouetted against the light shine of the moon, giving her an ethereal glow that gave her a dream-like visage.  
  
Ranma blushed deeply at the sight. "Yeah. Tomorrow."  
  
  
+++++++++++++++++  
  
  
"So, this is the one then is it?" asked the giant as he stared at the massive view screen.  
  
"Yes Commander," responded his tiny subordinate.  
  
"Good," the giant replied. "Prepare the energy collection."  
  
"Of course," said Cardoz. He turned and began to type skillfully at his terminal, causing mechanisms in the distance to come alive and hum ominously.  
  
His commander strode over to a nearby console to begin his own preparations. He reached into a hidden pocket of his cloak and pulled free a slim, purple card made of a shining metal.  
  
He reached forward and inserted it into its appropriate slot and gave it a turn, causing a large metal panel to slide back with a pneumatic hiss to reveal a single switch. The man grasped the huge lever in one hand, and yanked it back hard.  
  
The loud clunking of metal slamming into more metal filled the halls, bringing a twisted smile to his lips.  
  
  
++++++++++++++++++  
  
  
In the pale blue glow of the Earth, an enormous black craft hovered imposingly. The huge dome in the center of the craft gleamed menacingly in the reflected shine of the planet.  
  
Silently, pieces of the vessel began to separate from the main structure. They free floated for the few moments it took for all the components to release. Once the separation was completed the large satellites' engines flared without sound, speeding each city-sized monolith into position.  
  
  
++++++++++++++++++  
  
  
"The crystals have been placed Commander," replied Cardoz after a few moments of furious typing.  
  
The armored hulk looked to his subordinate with a pleased grin. "As are the satellites."  
  
"There... is a problem..." the tiny man hazarded to voice.  
  
"What problem could there be at such a crucial moment!?!" roared the giant angrily.  
  
Cardoz winced, but answered his commander. "There is not enough power in the reserves to operate the collection machines."  
  
"And what do you suggest?" questioned the large man, a wickedly mischievous smirk on his lips.  
  
A lump formed in Cardoz's throat. The commander knew what he'd suggest, but there was no ways around it. "I... shall give the final boost."  
  
"You are a credit to our kind, dear Cardoz," came the smug response.  
  
"Thank you, Commander Zeikfreid. I am only glad that I can be of service to you and our Mother." He saluted crisply, receiving an equally sharp salute.  
  
Cardoz walked over to a large tube that lightened in the distance. As he mad his way he removed his clothing, first his lab coat, then his pullover and slacks.  
  
The tube opened to allow the man entrance. He saluted once more as a blazing crimson light filled the capsule.  
  
The light began to eat away at the pale man's bare flesh, stripping it away slowly and evaporating any fluids in his body.  
  
His screams were short lived, having stopped after only a few moments. Finally all that was left was a metallic skeleton of the man, and that too was soon disintegrated by the deadly glow.  
  
A black crystal slide up from the grating of the capsule, tiny sparks of black lightning playing across its ebony surface. The tube opened, and a mechanical arm descended from the ceiling to take the precious crystal to the reactor room.  
  
Zeikfreid watched with a smile as the power cell sped into the distance.  
  
He turned back to his console and inserted another key from his cloak. One final panel opened, revealing a pull switch.  
  
His hand moved forward slowly, his heart pounding with excitement and bloodlust. One final phrase crossed his lips as he gripped the lever. "The flame is always brightest, right before it blows out."  
  
  
+++++++++++++++++  
  
  
Thirty seven points of crimson light outshone the beautiful pulsing of the blue planet.  
  
They started as tiny pricks at the end of the massive spikes directed towards the globe, and grew in intensity as they received power from the main vessel via their communication dishes.  
  
A visible network of light connected each machine, creating a massive net encircling the entirety of the Earth.  
  
  
+++++++++++++++++  
  
  
"Here you go Ranma," said Kasumi in her usual cheerful tone as she handed her would be fiancée his lunch.  
  
"Thanks, Kasumi," he said with a grin. He opened the bag and took a short whiff of the pleasant aroma before stashing the paper bag into his satchel.  
  
"If you two are done, we need to go now," fumed Akane from the gate.  
  
"I'll see you later guys," said Ranma to Kasumi and Lucied, shooting an annoyed glare at Akane.  
  
"Hey, what's that?" questioned Nabiki as she walked to Akane's side.  
  
Everyone followed Nabiki's gaze skyward, including their father who'd walked off the porch to see for himself.  
  
A huge line seemed to bisect the sky, its red contrasting beautifully with the pale blue. Following the line they saw that it intersected with another line just over the horizon, and then again in the opposite direction.  
  
The axis' where the lines joined formed globes of the same light.  
  
Something was happening.  
  
  
+++++++++++++++  
  
  
"HA!" shouted Kuno as yet another pigtailed training dummy fell before his mighty bokken.  
  
"Honestly dear brother, what could this Saotome peasant done to cause you such discomfort?" asked a snobby, petite voice from the home.  
  
Kuno turned his nose up at his younger sibling. "It is not of your concern, dear sister. It is a matter between men."  
  
Kodachi raised her sleeve to hide her smirk behind the sleeve of her kimono. "As you say, brother." She turned and walked back into the house with a flip of her hair.  
  
Kuno scowled at her retreat and began to set up another training dummy. He stiffened as a sudden chill frosted up his spine.  
  
He looked to the clouds and his eyes widened at the sight he beheld.  
  
"An ill wind blows...The wrath of the heavens may well be near..." he declared silently.  
  
  
++++++++++++++++  
  
  
Tofu Ono marched down the sidewalk purposefully. His face was a stern mask of resolve.  
  
Today he would tell her. He'd confess his love for Kasumi, and do everything within his power to steal her heart from the brash young man he'd met the day before.  
  
Nothing would deter him. No force of Heaven or Hell would deny him his confession.  
  
The gasping of those around him stopped him momentarily. He glanced up briefly, and stopped all together at what he saw.  
  
Maybe fate was against him...  
  
  
++++++++++++++++  
  
  
In the inky void of the dimensional prison known as the Abyss, sixteen beings of ancient might, having sensed the build up of power, awakened into startled consciousness.  
  
"Our home!" cried one.  
  
"This is unacceptable!" echoed another.  
  
"We must protect that which we have abandoned!" one voice stated, rallying the others behind him.  
  
  
+++++++++++++++  
  
  
The great network of power ceased as the power was drawn into the satellites.  
  
The massive orbs of pure destructive energy flared brightly and exploded outward in lances of fire.  
  
They streaked across the empty void on a collision course with the planet.  
  
A shine, a glimmer of light that formed in the upper atmosphere of the planet. It shimmered into existence around the globe, dim at first, but it quickly flared into a shifting field of energy.  
  
With a noiseless shudder, the two forces clashed and fought for dominance.  
  
  
+++++++++++++++  
  
  
"DAMN!!!" cursed Zeik as he watched his attack crash into a multicolored glowing sphere of force.  
  
"I will not be denied!" He smashed his heavy fist into the armored face of the control panel. With a primal cry of rage he pulled out a fist filled with circuitry and still sparking wiring.  
  
Warning signals flashed on his display as klaxons blared angrily in protest.  
  
'LIMITERS DAMAGED! MANUAL SHUT DOWN ADVISED! DAMAGE DUE TO OVERHEATING IS IMMINENT!'  
  
With a cold sneer and a wild look in his frozen grey eyes, Zeik demanded, "Blow out, little candle."  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
Ranma's eyes widened as the beams of light collided with a pulsing ethereal shielding, causing a deafening boom to echo across the city.  
  
He shielded his eyes with the back of his hand while the screams of the panicked people in the neighborhood rang out.  
  
"The Guardians!" cried Lucied.  
  
Ranma shifted his gaze down to the startled wolf. "What?"  
  
  
++++++++++++++  
  
  
"It's... too... strong..." muttered a dark blue orb representing the Guardian of the Water, like the others it flashed and dimmed under the strain of maintaining their shield.  
  
"You must hold on!" encouraged the pulsing yellow spheroid that was the Guardian of Rock.  
  
"The attack is strengthening!" alerted a large white globe.  
  
"We must not panic! We only have to hold out for a few more-" The last voice was cut off, they each cursed as one, as their combined power overtaken.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
A woman in England clutches her child in maternal panic, while in America a man falls to his knees and prays for mercy.  
  
In Africa, a poet frantically scrawls in vain to describe the emotion of those around him from the sight of the heaven bound spectacle.  
  
High atop the mountains of Tibet, monks of a obscure temple record the event for any generations who may survive.  
  
All the peoples of the Earth, despite any differences they may have had mere moments ago, were united by a single unified thing.  
  
Fear.  
  
Their shrill cries of panic and horror were drowned out by the thunderous crack of the mighty barrier falling before the onslaught of an unknown foe.  
  
  
+++++++++++++  
  
  
Kasumi gasp in shock as the titanic power of the lasers shattered the great dome into countless shards, sounding like the breaking of a massive glass bobble. The broken bits simply dissipated, rather than fall, allowing the fearsome lances of power to descend uninhibited to the waiting earth.  
  
Her voice sounded the first thing that entered her mind once she realized what might happen next.  
  
"Ranma!!!" she cried worriedly.  
  
The pigtailed fighter spun and dashed to the girl's side. "Kasumi!!!" He embraced her protectively, as though he could shield her from whatever the world would bring.  
  
"I won't let anything hurt you," he whispered quietly into Kasumi's ear.  
  
Lucied's great mane of crimson and violet came alive. It writhed and twitched with the force of power he began to generate, arcs of electric power flowing across the barbs of hair.  
  
And in a flash, they were gone...  
  
  
+++++++++++++++  
  
  
Notes:  
  
There ya go. Another chap down.  
  
C&C most welcomed, if not expected. ^_^  
  
Special thankies to my new pre-reader, Dracos.  
  
  
  
Next time on Wild Guardian: Carrying On  
  
  
  
  
This fic can be found at:  
  
fanfiction.net  
or  
tannim.anifics.com/index.html  
or  
www.geocities.com/c_mach2k1.html  
or  
www.geocities.com/animeinsomniac 


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